Dance With The Devil
by nayasgiraffe
Summary: A story about two girls getting paired up for a dance competition and everything that happens after. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! This is my first multi chapter fic, so I'm kinda nervous about publishing it... Also, I am not a native English speaker so all the mistakes in it are mine and I take credit for all of them. Disclaimer: I do not own Glee nor its characters... :(**

* * *

It was around 10am when Brittany's alarm woke her up. She sat up – wide awake, all smiling even. It was Saturday so she would be having dance lessons today. Yes, she basically danced all day long and when she wasn't she was cheerleading or singing with her friends from Glee club. If you asked her what she liked doing most, though, she would she would say dancing. Or maybe motor cross, but that was something completely different.

All in all, she was excited to get up. Last weird their teacher had said that she had a special assignment they would be getting next week... which was _today_ now. Brittany couldn't wait to hear it.

Within seconds she was out of bed, already changing into her dancing clothes. She had another hour still, but she was too psyched already to really care about that. She would just drive really slowly, also taking the longest route.

As she went downstairs, Brittany passed her parent's bedroom. The door was still closed, so she assumed they were still asleep. She was always the first to be up during the weekends. Most people wanted to sleep in, but Brittany always did that during first period of school and the weekends were always way more exciting than school. It was always so boring and such a waste of time. She didn't want to go to college anyway. She wanted to be a dancer, or something alike.

Since she didn't really trust herself cooking, Brittany just took out a few slices of bread and made herself a couple sandwiches. Taking her plate to the living room she turned on the TV, and flipped through the channels until she came across a music channel. Bobbing her head up and down she finished her food, pulling out her phone. She quickly texted Quinn, asking if she were awake already. While waiting for a reply, she tried to copy the dancers on the TV.

By the time she finally got a text back it was almost time to leave already. She would be picking up Quinn first and Brittany figured it wouldn't hurt to leave early. Grabbing the bag she packed yesterday she walked out the door. Swinging her arms up and down restlessly she pulled out her car keys.

As she drove to Quinn's place she sang along to a Britney song on the radio. It sounded pretty good, she thought to herself. Maybe one day she would just be as big of a star as the woman. They did share the same name, after all. Or well, kind of.

It only took her a few minutes to get to Quinn's, since the girl didn't live _that_ far away. She ringed the bell several times in a row, spinning around and practicing dance moves on the front porch. When the door opened she stopped abruptly, a little embarrassed at the sight of Quinn's mom. The older woman smiled at her a little timidly. "Hello, Brittany. Quinn is still upstairs. She should be ready any minute."

"Hey, Ms Fabray," Brittany said chirpy before stepping in. "I'll just go look for her then." Without waiting for an answer she ran upstairs, yelling Quinn's name.

"Gosh, Brittany. I'm not deaf, you don't have to shout," came Quinn's voice from her bedroom. "I'm in here, by the way."

"Yes," Brittany said, walking into Quinn's bedroom. "I know." She smiled and pumped her fist in the air. "Are you as psyched as I am?"

Quinn forced a laugh. "Probably not."

"Why not? Don't you like surprises?" Brittany asked in disbelief.

Quinn shrugged, putting up her hair in a high pony. She grabbed Brittany's arm and pulled her towards the door. "I'm ready. Let's go, I don't wanna be late."

"'Kay kay," Brittany chirped, quickly following the other girl's lead. They went downstairs, where Judy Fabray was waiting for them. She silently handed Quinn her bag – after which both girls went outside. Brittany noticed that her friend hadn't said one word to her mother, but she decided not to ask questions. She wouldn't get answers anyway. That what she had learned from hanging out with Quinn – most questions remained unanswered, or she got a snarky comment out of it. After spending quite a lot of time with Quinn, Brittany knew when to speak and when to remain silent.

They drove to the dance studios in silence. Brittany was too concentrated on the road to really keep a conversation going, and Quinn didn't seem interested in talking. She was checking her make up in the rearview window every few minutes, until they arrived at the studios.

When they were halfway the entrance, Quinn nudged Brittany. "Did you lock the doors of your car?"

Brittany stood still immediately, slapping her hand to her forehead. "I forgot. You go inside already, I don't want you to be late." She turned around, pulling out her car keys. Playing with them she walked back to her car. It only took her a minute or two to lock the doors and get back to the studio, but by then the class had already stared. Apparently the teacher didn't want to wait for her, so when she came in everyone was already paired up. Brittany shyly closed the line, feeling slightly uncomfortable for not having a dance partner. Normally she danced with Mike Chang, but he was already paired up with Tina Cohen-Chang this time. He shot her a apologetic look, but she smiled at him, trying to tell him it was okay. There was no way Tina would be better than her, but the two kind of made a cute couple.

The teacher – Shelby Corcoran – approached the girl. "Don't worry. There will a new student attending the dance class today. She's late, but I'm sure she'll show up eventually." That lightened Brittany up a little bit and instead of just standing there, swaying in the background, she started dancing on her own a little. She stretched a bit and tried to enjoy herself while waiting for the new girl to arrive. When she hadn't stepped into the studio after fifteen minutes, Brittany started to worry again. What if the girl wouldn't even bother to come? But then again, why would she even sign up for this class if she wasn't going to come anyway?

Twenty minutes after the lesson started Brittany was interrupted from her dancing by a hand grabbing her by the arm. She turned around quickly, only to see Shelby Corcoran standing behind her. Next to her was a short girl. She seemed to be Latina and also extremely bored. Brittany smiled at her, but the other girl didn't respond to that. Maybe she was just shy...

"This is Santana," Miss Corcoran said. "She will be joining us from now on. Santana, this is Brittany. She will be your dance partner the next few weeks."

Brittany outstretched her hand to greet Santana, but instead the girl grimaced. Clearly annoyed she cocked an eyebrow. "But she's a girl! I can't dance with a girl? Isn't there a guy left for me to dance with?"

Miss Corcoran sighed. "No. Brittany has been waiting for you for twenty minutes already, now don't give her an attitude. Be glad there is _someone_ for you to dance with."

"Nu-uh," Santana said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not dancing with a _girl._"

Brittany looked at the Latina, slightly disappointed. Even though the girl seemed interesting she didn't want to be hooked up with a super bitch. She shrugged. "I can dance on my own, if you have a problem with dancing with me."

"No way," Miss Corcoran said. "You two are dancing together, and that's it. If you both wanted to dance with someone else you should've thought of that _before_ you were late."

"I couldn't help being late," Brittany protested. "Didn't Quinn tell you I had to lock the doors from my car?"

"Yes, she did, but that's not an excuse. Besides, I hadn't expected you to disagree with dancing with Santana," Miss Corcoran said. She studied Brittany's face, but the blonde turned away. "I don't care about it, but she clearly does." She pointed at Santana, who was still standing in the same position as before. Lips pursed, eyes narrowed.

"I don't care. Like I said, you two are dancing together, whether you like it or not."

Finally Santana opened her mouth, muttering something in Spanish. Brittany thought to understand "Maldita sea," but she wasn't sure . She didn't even speak Spanish, so she might be mistaken.

Santana threw her hands in the air. "Okay! Whatever! I'll dance with her! But only because I have to. Not because I _like_ it or something." She roughly grabbed Brittany's hand, pulling her to the middle of the room. "Show me what you got."

* * *

When the lesson came to an end around noon, Miss Corcoran announced the special assignment they would be getting. "You all will be competing in a dance competition – with the partner you danced with today – and the winners will get a two free tickets to the upcoming Britney Spears concert. I think you guys deserve some extra treats, don't you?" She smiled.

Brittany clapped enthusiastic. She nudged Santana. "We are _so_ going to win this. I _need_ that Britney Spears concert."

Santana looked at her, seemingly bored. "You're a fan?"

"Yes! We share the same name, and her music is really good. I could dance to it all day long." Brittany smiled, not noticing Santana rolling her eyes. "Can we dance to Me Against The Music? It's one of my favorite Britney songs."

Santana shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not even sure if I'm gonna show up next time. This class is so lame, and I have to dance with _you_. Two reasons not to continue these lessons."

Brittany hadn't seen that one coming. She pouted and suddenly her happiness all flooded away. "Oh... I didn't know you thought of it that way... Did you really hate dancing with me?"

The Latina's eyes narrowed as she looked at the blonde. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. Without a word she nodded, turning around. The class was over, so she walked to the dressing room, getting away from the other girl. Brittany bit her lip, her gaze following Santana. She knew the girl hadn't wanted to dance with her in the beginning, but now she was just being harsh. It hurt to have someone hate her without even knowing her. Yeah, some girls in school hated her too, but that was just because they were jealous of her being popular and them being at the bottom of the WHMS food chain.

She didn't notice Quinn until the girl touched her arm. "Are you ready to go?"

Brittany nodded sadly. "Yeah, let's go."

The other blonde noticed her friend being sad, so she stepped in front of her. "Is there something up? You seem a bit down."

"It's nothing," Brittany sighed. "That new girl – Santana – she was being kind of a bitch. She said she didn't want to dance with me and that she probably won't even show up next time. Now I don't have a dance partner, so I can never win the competition." She smiled sadly at her friend, shrugging.

Quinn's eyes grew dark and she started pulling Brittany towards the exit of the dance studio. The taller girl followed her quickly, slightly confused about what was happening. Before she knew it, Quinn and her reached Santana – who was just about to step into her car. It was a nice car, probably expensive too.

When Quinn let go of her, Brittany rubbed her arm. The girl had squeezed her pretty hard, probably because she was mad. It was obvious that she was mad, because she basically grabbed Santana's arm, turning her around. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Santana's eyes narrowed. "I could ask you the same thing."

"This is not the time to bitch, bitch," Quinn said. "You made Brittany upset, and I can't let that happen."

"Well, I'm not going to apologize for telling the truth. She's weird – and completely childish. Besides, it's not like it's going to change anything because you probably won't ever see me again." Santana stepped into her car, closing the door. She waved at the two blondes, before pulling away.

"Well," Quinn said. "That didn't really go as planned."

Brittany smiled at her, patting her arm. "It's okay, Q. Thanks for standing up for me..."

"Anytime, Brittany. You're my best friend, remember? Now let's go home. I'm sure you'll find someone to dance with – even if it's not Santana."

Brittany nodded, letting Quinn pull her to her car. She knew Quinn was right, but what if she didn't _want_ to dance with anyone else?


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks for the follows and favorites guys! No reviews yet, but I hope those will come soon!**

* * *

The rest of the weekend went by fairly quickly, but Santana was more on Brittany's mind than she wished. The harsh words she had said kept playing over and over in the blonde's mind. By Monday she could literally quote them. People occasionally said she was stupid, but she never forgot the things people said to her. And definitely not when they said something insulting. Santana had called her childish, something that had truly hurt her. At the time she tried not to show it, but when she dropped Quinn off she felt the pressure of Santana's words on her shoulders.

Monday morning – and she sat in her car, waiting for Quinn to come outside. It was still fairly early, about an hour before school would start. Coach Sylvester wanted them to do laps before first period. Brittany didn't understand why, but most of the time she just went along with it. Well actually, she always went along with it. It was the most important rule within the Cheerios: always obey the coach. She was mean and her snarky comments have had several girls crying already – even a guy had transferred schools because of her.

After about five minutes Quinn finally opened the door of Brittany's car. "Sorry I'm late. My mom was in a bad mood. She thought my Cheerios outfit was too slutty." The girl rolled her eyes, closing the door. "I'm ready. Let's go. I don't want you to be late again, and certainly not for cheer practice."

Brittany drove the car to William McKinley High School – WHMS or McKinley for short – as fast as she could. They were a bit late already, but if they hurried it would probably not be noticed.

As soon as they got to the gym they saw a few Cheerios standing in line already. Brittany and Quinn stepped into line with them, and just when Coach was about to start the training another girl came in. Brittany's eyes widened and she unconsciously grabbed Quinn's hand. The girl walking towards the group of Cheerios was Santana.

Brittany followed the girl with her eyes, and she had to admit the Latina looked good. Hot, even. Uncomfortable she bit her lower lip, and dropped her eyes to the ground. Suddenly the floor of the gym seemed really interesting.

"Oh no," Santana said. When Brittany looked up she saw the girl staring at her, an annoyed look on her face. Nervously the blonde started playing with the pleats of her skirt, avoiding Santana's gaze. That didn't stop Santana from speaking up again, though. "If I knew _she_ was on the Cheerios too I would have never joined them."

"You can always quit again, _Santana_," Quinn said, clearly irritated. "I'm sure you won't be missed."

"Cut your crap, girls. The first one to speak up again will have to do extra laps," Sue said in her megaphone. Brittany cringed at the voice of her coach. She had done extra laps a few times before, and most of the time it had cost her lunch. One time she almost fainted because of it.

Santana stepped into line – next to some random cheerleader. Brittany looked at her, but was interrupted by Sue telling them to start running. Immediately the whole line of cheerleaders started moving, and Brittany couldn't look at Santana any longer. She didn't want to either, because the Latina shot mean glares at her every once in a while.

Brittany didn't understand what she had done wrong to piss Santana off this much. Was it just because they had to dance with each other? Because she was a girl – instead of a guy? But those things weren't her fault, were they? Besides, if Santana had been earlier maybe she'd been paired up with someone else, like Mike or Sam. Or maybe even Finn, who couldn't dance at all. Brittany didn't get why he was even in the class, but she presumed it had something to do with Rachel Berry. All in all, there was no reason for Santana to be such a bitch to the girl, and she wanted to tell her that so badly. But every time she looked at the Latina it seemed like she lost her tongue. Maybe it was better if she just didn't say anything... Maybe Santana would just get off her back then.

* * *

After cheer practice Brittany and Quinn both had English. It was one of the most boring subjects _ever_, and most of the time Brittany was just catching up on lost sleep. She could always copy Quinn's stuff. The girl never objected to it, and she had offered to help her a couple of times already. But Brittany didn't see the use of school, or college, so she politely declined it every time.

A few minutes after the first bell rang, class started and they were handed text books. Brittany didn't even know which book they were reading right now. Sure, sometimes she opened it and tried to read a few words, but most of the time it was way too hard to understand what they were talking about. It made her feel stupid, and she didn't want to feel like that – so she just pretended to know everything already. She could always read recaps on the book when they had to make an exam about it. That's how she got through the first three year of high school, so she would certainly get through senior year too.

"You're late, Miss Lopez," the teacher said. Brittany's head shot up, only to look straightly at the Latina she'd been trying to avoid. Sighing she nudged Quinn, who nodded. She'd already seen it.

"Be glad I even came." Santana shook her head, walking to the back of the classroom. There were a few seats left – so the girl didn't have much of a choice. She sat herself a few seats away from Quinn and Brittany, alone.

Throughout the whole English class Brittany kept glancing in Santana's direction. The Latina didn't seem to notice it – much to Brittany's relieve. She didn't know why she was so... attracted to the girl. She had been really mean to her, but she also didn't seem to have any friends. Now that Brittany thought about it... She had never seen Santana before. Not at school, not in town, not anywhere. Did she just move here? Chances were high she did – otherwise the blonde would've known her face. She didn't forget faces that easily, and certainly not one like Santana's.

Brittany's next class was History. Apparently Santana's too, as she walked in – again a few minutes late. The only seat left was in the front – next to Noah Puckerman, one of the jocks. Normally he sat next to Finn or Sam, but they didn't have this class. So Santana and he sat next to each other. Not speaking, although it was clear Puck was into the girl. He kept looking at her the same way Brittany did. This time Santana _did_ notice, and she punched Puck's arm. He laughed, calling her 'a tough one'.

Because Brittany sat all the way in the back of the classroom she couldn't really say anything about it, even though she wanted to. She didn't know why, but part of her felt sorry for the girl. Even though she had been a total bitch, no one deserved to be treated like a slut. Not even Santana.

* * *

During lunch break Brittany saw Santana again – sitting alone. Again. For a second she debated with herself about what she should do, but Brittany being Brittany, she figured it out long before she could even turn around and walk back to the Cheerios.

Santana looked up surprised when Brittany sat herself next to the Latina, but she instantly looked annoyed again. "What do you want?"

"You seemed lonely, so I'm keeping you company," Brittany briefly explained. "I haven't seen you before, so I was wondering... are you a transfer?"

Santana sighed, clearly not in the mood to talk about her personal stuff with the blonde. She didn't answer, so Brittany started feeling slightly uncomfortable. But she wasn't going to give up. This Santana girl seemed interesting – and since in all her classes she had been alone, Brittany thought she might want a friend. And even if she didn't Brittany wasn't going to give up. Something told her that beneath the bitchy attitude was a much friendlier girl, and she was eager to meet her.

"Look, you don't have to talk to me. I just felt bad for you sitting alone during lunch. Even though you're a Cheerio and all... You should come sit with us." She gestured to the table with jocks and Cheerios. "I'm sure if you give them a chance you'll like them."

"Why are you being nice to me?" Santana suddenly asked, dropping her fork. "I was a bitch to you during dance lessons Saturday. I was a bitch to you during Cheerios practice. And I'm a bitch to you now. Hell, I'm a bitch in general. So why are you being so _freaking_ nice?"

Brittany blushed, looking down at her hands. She played with the pleats of her Cheerios skirt, slightly uncomfortable under Santana's questioning gaze. "I-I don't know. I think you're not really a bitch. You just act like one because you're all new and you have to build up a reputation."

For a few seconds, no one said anything. Then, Santana picked up her plate and walked off, without saying another word, leaving Brittany all alone. The blonde looked at Santana as she dumped her food in the trash bin, leaving the cafeteria. Part of her wanted to rush after the girl, but another part of her was hurt – again. But yet she couldn't just forget about the Latina. There was something about her that attracted Brittany.

After a while of sitting alone, slowly eating her French fries, Brittany got up. She didn't really like being alone. To her – being alone and being lonely were almost the same thing. It didn't really matter in whose company she was, as long as she was with _someone_. Most of the time this someone was Quinn, since they were best friends. They had been in middle school together and they had joined Cheerios together when they were still freshmen. And now they were seniors, still Cheerios, and the two most popular girls in school. That last part sometimes annoyed Brittany.

Quinn would act differently around people than when it was just them doing best friend stuff like watching movies and talking about boys. She was head cheerleader and dating one of the jocks – Sam Evans. Brittany didn't know if they really did _anything_ when they were together, since Quinn had always made it clear she wanted to remain celibate. The blonde didn't really know what that meant, but she knew Quinn wasn't doing the same stuff _she_ was doing when she was alone with boys. Not that it mattered, she just didn't understand _how_ the other girl did it.

Honestly, Brittany had lost her virginity at the age of fourteen and she didn't regret any of the times she had sex. Not with any of the guys – and some girls either. And she didn't understand why Quinn didn't want to have fun. Or maybe she had fun but just in another way. Brittany had never been a hopeless romantic. The longest she'd dated someone was two weeks – and after that he got mad at her for having sex with other guys during their relationship. He said she'd cheated on him. She lied and said she didn't know they were dating because they never made it official. Since then Brittany hadn't dated anyone. She was just not the dating kind of person. Maybe it was because she couldn't just stick to one guy, or because she had just never really been _in love_ with someone before. She didn't know, and she didn't care either. Life was about having fun, and Brittany was having a lot of fun being single.

"Why were you sitting next to Santana Lopez?" Quinn interrupted her train of thoughts. The two of them were walking to class together. They had most of their classes together.

Brittany shrugged. "She seemed lonely."

"She's a bitch."

"Of course. She's a Cheerio."

"Not every Cheerio is a bitch, though," Quinn said.

"No, that's true. I'm not a bitch. I'm awesome," Brittany nodded, winking playfully. "You're a bitch, and I still hang out with you. I can hang out with Santana if I want to."

"Whatever. Just be careful. I don't think she's good for you."

"You mean she's not good for my reputation. Quinn, you know I don't care about those kind of things, don't you?" Brittany sighed. "I hang out with people I like, no matter if they are popular or not. Like that Tina-girl from dance and glee club. She's nice, but you don't know that because she's not popular enough for you."

Quinn furrowed her brow, dumping her books on the desk she was sitting at. "Are you done talking badly about me?"

Brittany looked at her confused. "I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about Tina and how nice she is."

"Whatever, B."

Brittany wanted to ask what she had done wrong when the door opened. Santana came in – and she was actually on time. Her and Brittany's eyes met and they looked at each other for a second or two. Then, Santana sat herself behind a desk somewhere in the front, and Brittany had nothing left to stare at but her back.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for the follows and favorites and reviews! :D It makes me happy to know you enjoy reading it! And reviews totally encourage me to write faster! :D And sorry for any possible mistakes, I'm trying my best but I'm not a native English speaker... :(**

* * *

Brittany spend the rest of the day trying to think of something to say to Santana. She didn't really look forward to snarky comments and the bitchy attitude the Latina put up all the time, but they still needed to think of a song for their dance class.

So when school and cheer practice were over Brittany waited outside the locker room for Santana to come out. She didn't have to wait long – apparently Santana was almost as quick showering as she was.

"Hey, Santana," Brittany said immediately when the girl came into her sight. The other girl sighed visibly, but she didn't turn away. "Yes, Brittany. What do you want?"

"Um." Brittany's brow furrowed. "Are you going to dance this Saturday? Because if you do we have to pick a song and start thinking of –"

"I don't know," Santana interrupted her. "Maybe. Maybe not. It's only Monday, for god's sake. How am I supposed to know if I'm going to that dance class or not when it's another five days from now?"

"Well, I know that I'm going, so I figured you would too."

"Don't. I'm not sure if I'm going. Besides, I thought you already picked a song?" Santana had started walking towards her car slowly. Brittany followed her, thinking back to the other day. Which song had she picked again? Oh right. Me Against The Music. "Yeah, but you never agreed with me."

"It didn't seem like I had much of a choice," Santana said.

"Of course you do. I even asked you about it, but you just said 'whatever'," Brittany murmured. She was more confused than ever about Santana's behavior. Couldn't the girl just say yes or no? Why did she have to make everything so complicated?

Both girls had now reached Santana car and the Latina opened the door. "Okay." She got in her car, and closed the door. Then she seemed to change her mind, rolling down the window. "We can use Me Against The Music, if you really want to." And with that she drove away.

A tad confused Brittany looked after her. Did the other girl just confirm her showing up to the next dance class? Or did she agree just to get it over with?

Deep in thought Brittany walked to her own car. She didn't pay as much attention as she normally did while driving, and she almost passed her own house. Just in time she turned the corner, parking her car quickly. There was no one in the house. Except for Lord Tubbington. He purred as she petted him for a while, thinking about a choreography for dance class already. She didn't really know what Santana could and couldn't do, but the way she walked and moved and even breathed told her the girl got moves. Besides, she was on the Cheerios and Coach Sylvester only allowed the best to be on the squad. So there was probably a lot they could do. They could win this thing, Brittany was sure of it. If only Santana wouldn't be a butt about dancing with a girl. Girls could be dance partners, couldn't they? That wasn't any weirder than a boy and a girl dancing together. Right?

Brittany's train of thought was interrupted by a familiar sound. Still cuddling with Lord Tubbington, Brittany pulled out her phone. She quickly unlocked the screen and read the text she'd just received. _Brittany, where were you? I was waiting for you in the parking lot, but you never showed up. –Q_

Oops. She had completely forgotten about Quinn. That had only happened once before, and they had been fighting for the rest of the week. Her fellow blonde had eventually just walked home, after an hour of waiting.

_OMG I'm so sorry! I was talking to Santana and then I kind of forgot about you. Should I come pick you up still? –B_, she quickly texted back. Only seconds later she received a reply. _No. I'm at Sam's now. Don't bother picking me up tomorrow either. I'll just go by myself. –Q_

Brittany bit her lower lip, rereading the text over and over again. Quinn sounded mad. Well, it wasn't really _that_ weird, considering her best friend had just forgotten about her. Maybe she had to get the girl something as an apology. No food, though. Quinn was always on some weird diet, even though her body was practically perfect. But then again, maybe that was because Quinn never ate something with a lot of fat.

"Quinn is mad at me, LT," Brittany told her cat sadly. "I forgot she was riding with me after practice and now she's saying I don't have to pick her up tomorrow either."

The cat looked at her, and it almost seemed like he cocked an eyebrow.

"And this new girl – Santana – is also really mean to me. I don't know what I did wrong but I don't think she really likes me," Brittany continued. "Do you think people can hate people for no reason? Like legitimately hate?"

Lord Tubbington didn't respond to that. He just pushed his face against Brittany's hand, and she picked him up. "Let's go upstairs. Maybe I can get some homework done." But she already knew that she wasn't going to do any homework today.

Everything with Quinn and Santana was just so upsetting she didn't feel like doing anything but lay on her bed with Lord Tubbington. So that's what she did. Until her mom came home and told her she had to help with cooking dinner.

* * *

The next day Brittany drove to school all by herself. She passed Quinn's house, but didn't stop to wait for the girl. She wasn't going to come out anyway, so why even bother? So she shook her head as she drove past the house.

First period was Spanish, one of the only subjects she had without Quinn. But apparently she did have it with Santana. The Latina was already sitting in the back of the classroom when Brittany came in. She didn't really think long about where to sit, and within seconds she sat herself next to the girl. "Hi."

Santana nodded to acknowledge her presence, before turning back to the book she was reading. Brittany took her books out of her backpack, putting them on the table. She looked at Santana. The girl seemed extremely bored.

"Santana...?" Brittany said softly. "Can I ask you a question?"

Santana cocked an eyebrow, looking sideways at the girl. Her dark eyes had a slightly questioning look.

"D-do you hate me?" the blonde asked quietly. She avoided Santana's gaze completely, absentmindedly drawing random things in her notebook.

"What? No? I don't hate you, Brittany. I just don't want to be friends, okay? Hell, I don't even want to be dance partners."

"But why not?"

"Because you're a girl! I'm new at this school and I've got a reputation to build up – and maintain. If I dance with you... People might start thinking I'm _gay_ and I don't want that, because I'm not. Look, I don't know about you, but I don't want to be part of the loser-club for the rest of high school."

"Why would people be thinking you're gay?" Brittany asked, slightly confused. She had danced with Quinn several times already and there was never a rumor about either of them being gay.

"I don't know! Teenagers are highly judge-mental and I'm not going to give them reasons to hate on me," Santana answered. She shook her head, turning a page of her book.

Brittany looked at the girl. Her dark hair formed a wall between the two of them, and the blonde didn't know what to say anymore. Part of her understood what Santana was talking about. But she was a cheerleader, and most of the time they didn't have to fear anything – or anyone in this case. Besides, if she just slept with a bunch of guys...

"Okay," Brittany mumbled. "I understand. Sorry for bothering you."

* * *

Tuesdays always went by fairly quickly, but this time the day seemed to go on forever. Without Quinn by her side, Brittany felt quite lonely – and she didn't really feel like hanging out with Santana either. The girl had made it clear she didn't want anything to do with the blonde, and even though it was hard, Brittany was determined to do as she was asked. So she stayed as far away from the Latina as possible.

After school they had glee club and then cheer practice, two of Brittany's favorite things. Most of the glee club was in her dance class as well, and she considered them her best friends. Quinn was in it too, but mostly because Sam had basically begged her to join.

And Mike, of course. He was the best male dancer of the class, so most of the time they danced together. Sometimes even during the break, just for fun. They were at about the same level and they knew exactly what the other could or couldn't do.

Part of Brittany hoped that she would get to see Santana in glee club too, but she wasn't surprised when she didn't. After all, being in glee club wasn't something they got a lot of social credits for. Most of the glee kids had been slusheed several times and they were basically at the bottom of the social food chain of McKinley. But Brittany didn't care about that. She loved performing and glee club gave her that opportunity.

She silently slipped into a seat in the back of the choir room, next to Quinn. She immediately felt the awkward tension between the two of them. Slightly uncomfortable Brittany touched Quinn's arm to get the girl's attention. "Are you still mad at me?"

Quinn visibly sighed, turning around in her seat. "I don't know..."

"How can you not know if you're mad still mad at me?" Brittany asked slowly. She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say, but she couldn't _not_ say anything either. Brittany being Brittany she couldn't stand it if people were mad at her.

"I just don't know, okay?" The other girl shrugged one shoulder, chewing her lower lip.

"Oh."

Before Quinn could reply to that the glee club teacher – Will Shuester – walked into the classroom. He started talking about how they had to prepare for Regionals and which songs they should have on their set list.

It had always been hard for Brittany to pay attention if he was talking, but today she just didn't understand one word of what he was saying. She just stared and nodded every time the other kids started laughing, trying to look like she _was_ paying attention.

Today was just not Brittany's day. Or actually, this whole week kind of sucked. Ever since Saturday's dance lesson she hadn't been in the mood to do anything, really. Did it have something to do with Santana, maybe? She had been feeling weird ever since she first laid eyes on the girl. There had been this weird feeling all the time when she was around her, but it wasn't uncomfortable. She actually quite liked it.

A small nudge in her ribs made her look up. Mr. Shue was standing in front of her, holding sheet music. A tad embarrassed Brittany bit her lip and accepted the piece of paper. She didn't recognize the song title – or the artist, so it was probably one of those lame songs only old people listened to.

The song turned out to be as lame as she thought it would be, and she had to pinch herself several times not to fall asleep. Rachel and Finn took the lead solos – obviously – and the rest of them was just swaying in the back a little, pretending to like the song.

For the first time in forever, Brittany was glad glee club was over. She was one of the first to walk out of the choir room, practically running to the gym for cheer practice.

They started off running laps. There were a bunch of people between Brittany and Santana, but the blonde still couldn't keep her eyes off the Latina. She felt the urge to run fast and pass some people in order to get closer to Santana, but she suppressed that feeling. It was just weird – even for her. So she ran behind Quinn, trying to concentrate on her feet.

For some reason Coach Sylvester had them train harder than normally – and by the end of practice most of the girls basically collapsed on the floor. Brittany wasn't one of them, but Santana was. Apparently her stamina wasn't nearly as good as it should be to survive Sue Sylvester's Cheerios practice. It worried Brittany. Without much thinking she walked over to the Latina, squatting next to her. "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" Santana snarled. "That woman is insane!" She closed her eyes and if it weren't for her heavy breathing Brittany would've thought the girl was trying to fall asleep.

"I know..." Brittany nodded absentmindedly. Santana's skin was covered in a thin layer of sweat, and for some reason Brittany found that really attractive. It made it seem like the girl's skin was shining, and it was completely distracting.

"I think I'm going to have to lay on this floor for the rest of my life," Santana said slowly, her eyes still closed. "There's no way I'm going to get up now."

Brittany bit her lower lip, looking at the exhausted girl. Suddenly she got an idea, and before she knew her arms were around the Latina. Being so tiny Santana was light as a feather, so it took Brittany no problem to lift her up.

"What the hell are you doing?" Santana sounded mad and amused at the same time. Her eyes flew open and Brittany felt her knees go weak when she looked at them. Their faces were so close... Shaking it off she smiled timidly. "Well... You said you couldn't walk, and this floor is kind of gross. So I'm bringing you home."


	4. Chapter 4

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* * *

"Um, Brittany? I think you're forgetting something?" Santana said when the two reached Brittany's car. The blonde tightened her grip on the Latina while searching for her car keys. After a few seconds she found them, opening the doors. She helped the other girl get into the car, and then stood back. "No? Why? What would I forget?"

Santana made a weird sound that sounded like laughing, and shook her head. "_My_ car. How am I supposed to get to school tomorrow morning if you're bringing me home now?"

Oh right. Brittany slapped her forehead. Her brow furrowed and she nervously bit her lip. She hadn't really thought of that. The sight of Santana being too tired to even walk out of the gym had been so distracting that all she had wanted was just to get the girl home. "Oh, I know. I can pick you up tomorrow before school. I guess Quinn is still mad at me so I have some extra time."

Santana looked at her, slightly confused. Her eyes were narrowed and her full lips pursed – distracting. Beads of sweat were still formed on her brow – sexy.

Brittany shook her head. "Never mind. I'll pick you up first thing tomorrow morning."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You don't even know where I live. Maybe it's just best if I go home by myself," Santana said. She started getting out of the car, but Brittany was still in her way. "No. I am bringing you home. I don't want you to be in an accident or something." She didn't even know why she cared so much about this girl's safety. Like... She probably didn't care about hers either.

It took the blonde a while to convince Santana to stay in the car, but eventually she succeeded. Santana – as it turned out – lived in Lima Heights Adjacent. Brittany had never really been there. Her parents didn't want her to. They said 'bad things' happened there. But if Santana lived there, those things couldn't be _that_ bad, could they?

Santana's house turned out to be one of the bigger ones in the poor district. The Latina pointed at it, and when Brittany pulled over she quickly got out of the car. Leaning in again she smiled. "Thank you for dropping me off."

Brittany smiled too. "You're very welcome, Santana." She liked the way the name sound when she said it. Santana. Santana. Santana.

Santana's eyes narrowed just a tiny bit, but long enough for Brittany to feel uncomfortable. Did she just chant the girl's name out loud? She bit her lower lip, not sure what to do next. "I will pick you up at 7:50?"

"Okay," Santana confirmed. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Brittany mumbled. She followed the Latina with her eyes while she walked to the front door. She kept staring until the other girl stepped inside, closing the door behind her and therefore make it impossible for Brittany to look at her any longer.

* * *

"How was school today?" Brittany's mom asked as soon as her daughter entered the house. The girl simply shrugged. "It was okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, mom. Okay. Nothing special happened." Nothing special she needed to know, anyway. Like her fight with Quinn, or the stuff with Santana. Yes, her mom was a sweetheart, but she didn't have to know everything. She would probably just judge her and then tell her what to do.

"I'm going upstairs... Homework and all," Brittany lied. She never did homework, even though she pretended to. Just to stay out of trouble. She almost failed junior year – almost – and it caused a huge fight with her parents. Even her sister had something to say about it. So just to prevent that from happening ever again she just pretended like she was doing homework every once in a while. Most of the time Quinn let her cheat during exams anyway. Another reason to make up with the girl.

When Brittany got to her bedroom she just laid on her bed for a while. Her thoughts were basically all over the place, but every once in a while Santana just popped up out of nowhere. The blonde didn't know what about Santana attracted her so much. Maybe it were the looks – because hell she was hot. Or maybe it was just because she didn't worship her, like most of the other Cheerios did. There wasn't really just one reason, Brittany thought. It was a bunch of things that made this Santana-girl so... alluring.

After a while her sister, Demi, came into her room. "Mom said you were doing homework."

"I am," Brittany answered, making no attempt to look like she'd actually been studying. "Wanna lay with me?"

Demi – being twelve years old and quite rebellious – thought about the offer for a while, before nodding silently. Brittany spread her arms and let the tiny blonde crawl up to her. "So... Are there any cute boys in your grade?"

Demi shifted in her arms, looking at her older sister. "No. Boys are stupid."

"No one is stupid, Demi," Brittany said firmly. "That's not a nice thing to say."

"Well, they are. They only care about themselves." Demi huffed, pressing herself closer to her sister.

"That's true," Brittany thought. "But that doesn't make one stupid, though. It just makes them selfish and arrogant."

"Whatever. I'm never gonna have a boyfriend," Demi said determined.

"I thought that too when I was your age..." Brittany smiled, feeling mature. "And yet I have had several boyfriends."

"But they were all asses," Demi implied. "You broke up with all of them."

Brittany shrugged. She didn't really feel like talking about her ex-boyfriends. She didn't really feel like talking about _any_ boy, actually. Even though she had brought the subject up, she didn't feel comfortable about it. And she couldn't figure out why.

* * *

The next day at exactly 7:45 Brittany stopped in front of Santana's house. Part of her was hoping the girl would be early too, but part of her wished she would stay in until exactly 7:50. Half the time they were together things were awkward and Brittany felt things she never felt before – which was kind of scary and exciting at the same time. So she didn't know how to feel.

But when the girl came out of her house a few minutes later she didn't care about awkward anymore. Suppressing a huge smile, Brittany pretended to fix her hair – even though it was already in her usual high pony. She just tightened it a bit, and acted surprised when the door opened. "Santana! You're early!"

"I'm just on time," Santana grumbled. "You're the one that's early."

Brittany shrugged, starting the engine. "I had nothing left to do."

"So you stand in front of my house, watching the front door anxiously, waiting for me to come out." Santana shook her head, running a hand through her dark hair. She hadn't put it up into a high pony yet. She looked even prettier this way.

Brittany had never had a problem with Sue's high pony policy, until now. She wished Santana would never wear her hair back in a high pony ever again. This, of course, was too much to ask, as the girl 'fixed' her hair within minutes after stepping into the car.

In silence they drove to school. It wasn't _that_ long of a drive, so after a few minutes Brittany pulled over in the parking lot. Santana got out first, quickly walking to the entrance of the school.

Brittany looked after her, following her lead a tad slower. She found herself following the Latina to her locker, hiding behind a bunch of people. She noticed Santana's locker being awfully empty. Her own was full of pictures of herself, herself with Quinn, herself with Demi, the Cheerios, the glee club... But Santana's locker didn't have any pictures in it. Just books. Lots of books.

When the bell rang Brittany jumped, realizing she was going to be late for class. She quickly walked to her own locker, pulling out a couple books. Absentmindedly she walked to class, quietly slipping into a seat next to Quinn.

The blonde didn't look up, clearly still pissed off about Brittany forgetting her. She sighed. Quinn was her best friend, and she couldn't stand fighting with her. With anyone, really. But Quinn was always worse. So she bit her lip, put her hand in front of her mouth and kicked Quinn's chair. "If you want I can pick you up tomorrow morning again."

"Are you sure you're not going to forget me, again?" Quinn whispered back. Brittany could her the annoyance clearly present in her friend's voice.

"Yes. I never forgot to pick you up."

"No, you just forget to drive me home. That's more or less the same."

"No fair! I was talking to Santana, and you were really late. I figured you might have gone home already." Brittany frowned, grabbing a pen to draw a heart in her notebook. "Besides, you stayed with Sam anyway."

"I wouldn't have if you hadn't forgotten about me," Quinn said. She shifted in her seat, looking directly at Brittany. "But okay. Whatever. Everybody makes mistakes sometimes. I hate fighting with you as much as you hate fighting with me. So pick me up tomorrow? Regular time?"

Brittany smiled, and nodded. "Okay! Yay! So we're good again?"

"We're good." Quinn pointed at Brittany's notebook. "You're not crushing on Sam, are you?"

"W-what? No?" Brittany asked, eyes narrowing. "What made you think I was?"

"B hearts S? I don't know any other guy whose name starts with an S."

Oh. Brittany bit her lip, suddenly a tad flustered. Right. She didn't know any more guys than Quinn, so lying wouldn't really be much of a help here. S. S... Sam... Santana? No, that couldn't be it. "I guess I was just randomly drawing something," she said, quickly closing the notebook. "I don't understand this." She pointed at a random question in her workbook, trying to change the subject. It seemed to help. Or, at least, Quinn didn't pressure her into talking about the random S drawn behind the heart.

* * *

During lunch, Brittany managed to get Santana alone. "Hey. Now that we've picked a song... Would you maybe like to start thinking of a routine today after school?"

Santana opened her locker, studying her face in the mirror. "Can't we just do that during dance lessons?"

"Well, yeah..." Brittany shrugged. "But I thought maybe it would be nice to have something done before –"

"I don't have time," Santana interrupted her.

"Why not?"

"Homework and stuff," Santana answered, looking up. Her eyes narrowed, the expression turning cold. "You should try it sometime. Maybe then you'd actually be able to graduate." She cocked an eyebrow, before closing her locker. "I'll see you at Cheerios practice." Then she walked away, leaving Brittany in the hallway.

The blonde let the words sink in for a second, and then her lower lip started trembling. Of all the things Santana had said to her this hurt the most. Trying to contain her tears, Brittany turned around swiftly, making her way to the girl's bathroom. It wasn't so much Santana inclining she was stupid – people did that all the time. It was the tone in which she said it, like she intentionally wanted to hurt Brittany's feelings. The blonde couldn't understand how people could be so mean. How Santana could be so mean to her, after all she'd done for her. Maybe it was really best to just forget about the girl. To stop being nice to her. To just resign from the dance competition. She could find another way to get the Britney tickets. She didn't need Santana for that. Right?

* * *

The rest of the day she focused on avoiding Santana. She wasn't mad, per se. She just didn't want to see the girl. Okay, yes, she did, but she didn't allow herself to think like that. She groaned. Why was it so hard for her to just stay away from the Latina? There was nothing _special_ to her. She wasn't particularly good at cheerleading, or anything else. And she was _really _mean. Not only to Brittany – to everyone. It had only been three days and everyone was already terrified of the girl. Was that really the reputation Santana longed for? Brittany didn't understand it.

During Cheerio practice it was a tad harder than normally to pay attention. Her thoughts shifted to Santana all the time, and she was too distracted to keep her balance on top of the pyramid. She wasn't really _on top_, but she was up quite high. So when Coach finally told them to hit the showers, she felt so relieved she almost fell all the way down. Almost.

Quinn noticed it too. Before she could get to the girl's locker room she was approached by her friend. "You seemed a bit out of it today, Brittany. As head cheerleader _and _your best friend I am obliged to ask you what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Brittany snapped. She was never usually like this, but today she just didn't feel like being nice.

Quinn pursed her lips, seemingly offended. "Well, sorry for asking."

Immediately Brittany felt bad for falling out the way she had. "Sorry. Today is just not really my day, I guess."

"Does it have something to do with that S. guy?" Quinn seemed truly worried.

Brittany just smiled sadly. "No. No guys."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks again for the reviews, guys. They make me happy :) Again, if you feel like talking to me, I am on Twitter ****_and_**** Tumblr. girlbased_ for Twitter, and girlbased . tumblr . com for - obviously - Tumblr. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter :3**

* * *

Even after practice was over Brittany lingered in the locker room. She didn't know why, but she didn't want to go home just yet. So when everyone had left the building she slipped back into the gym, pulling out her iPod. If Santana didn't want to dance with her she could very well dance on her own. Plugging in her earphones she tapped the screen. Her Britney Spears playlist popped up, and she went straight to the M. As the music started playing her mind went blank and her body just seemed to start moving on its own. She was never really thinking when she danced. It just happened. Dancing was like a second nature to Brittany S. Pierce. Ever since she could walk she remembered dancing. In the beginning it had been sloppy and random, of course, but with time came progress.

As the song ended it and shuffled to another song she kept dancing without even thinking about taking a break. Dancing cleared her mind, and she needed a lot of clearing. All the stuff that had been happening with Santana and Quinn had just come at her all at once. Normally these kind of things never happened to her, so it was quite a big adjustment.

Closing her eyes, Brittany slumped to the ground. Her face pressed against the cold, wooden floor she just lay there, breathing heavily. Not from physical exhaustion, but because she didn't know what to do. She wanted to win those tickets to the concert, and she wanted to win them with Santana. But if the girl didn't want to dance with her for the most ridiculous reasons she couldn't really force her either. She could always ask Quinn for help, but the girl wasn't a fan of Santana either, and she would never understand why Brittany was. Another reason not to tell her about what the S really meant.

Getting up slowly, Brittany turned off the music. She was sweaty and needed to shower. Not at school, because then she'd have to change back into her Cheerios uniform, and that was just as sweaty. So there was no option left but to go home. Swinging her backpack over one shoulder she walked out of the gym, towards her car.

There was a note stuck between her wiper and the front window, floating in the wind. She picked it up, flattening it. _I just realized I haven't thanked you for picking me up this morning. So thank you. I'm sorry for being a bitch earlier. _

The note wasn't signed, but Brittany had only picked up one person this morning. Suddenly everything seemed brighter, and she reread the note. This was the first time she got to see Santana's handwriting, and it was very pretty. Carefully putting the note in the pocket of her Cheerios jacket Brittany opened the door of her car.

It didn't take her long to get home, and the house was empty when she arrived. Her parents were probably still at work, and Demi could be anywhere. Like Brittany she was quite popular in school, and a lot of kids wanted to hang out with her. She had a new best friend every other week, and most of the time Brittany didn't even get to meet them. Probably because 'it was lame to introduce your bigger sister to your friends' or something like that.

A few minutes after entering the house Brittany stepped in the shower. As the hot water ran down her back she closed her eyes, tilting her head backwards. Leaning against the wall she let the water wash away the layer of sweat that was covering her skin. It reminded her of Santana, yesterday after practice. The way her tan skin seemed to be glowing when she carried the girl to her car...

Santana.

Brittany clenched her jaw, slowly sitting down in the shower. Her hand slipped to between her legs and she swallowed hard. She normally never did these kind of things, but she hadn't gotten _anything_ in a week, and the thought of Santana's glittering skin caused a familiar throb between her legs. She slipped two fingers between her folds, and she gasped in surprise at how wet she had already gotten. Turning off her mind she dipped one finger in. Then two. As she slowly started thrusting her fingers in and out of herself she used her free hand to circle her clit. As she continued building up the pressure she started panting, clenching her eyes shut every once in a while. Images of Santana's skin flashed through her mind. Forcing herself to climax, Brittany's breathing became heavier. The tension between her thighs became almost unbearable and she felt herself tighten around her own fingers. Having trouble keeping up the constant pace she groaned, her whole body shuddering. Mentally going back to when Santana's body was pressed up against her own, Brittany heightened her pace, and just seconds later she was being pushed over the edge.

How long had she been sitting there? She didn't know. A while, that's for sure. She quickly washed her hair and body, stepping out of the shower only minutes after.

* * *

When Brittany saw Santana the next day at school she felt blood rush to her face. She knew the girl couldn't possibly know what happened yesterday, but she still felt embarrassed. Especially because it was the thought of Santana that drove her over the edge.

For the first time in ever Santana was the one to approach Brittany. "Hey," she said as she leaned against the lockers. "Did you... Did you get my note?"

Brittany studied Santana's face for a few seconds. She liked what she saw. Santana didn't really use a lot of make-up – just the basic stuff, and she still looked hot. "Um, yeah, I did."

"And...?"

"And what?" Brittany teased, trying to make her voice sound annoyed. If Santana could play hard to get, she could too.

"Are we okay?"

"Well, you were kind of mean to me earlier." Brittany closed her locker, throwing her backpack over one shoulder. As she slowly walked to class she found Santana following her. Did they have the same class or was the girl just trying to talk to her?

"I apologized for that, didn't I?" Santana exclaimed. "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry before you finally accept my apology?"

"You don't seem like you apologize a lot," Brittany stated. "If you keep telling me you're sorry for the rest of the week I will consider forgiving you."

Santana bit her lip. "Okay... I can do that, I think."

The blonde laughed, walking into the classroom. "I'm kidding, Santana. It's okay. Just... I really don't like it when people call me stupid. It makes me feel... stupid." She slipped into her usual seat in the back of the classroom. Much to her surprise Santana came to sit next to her.

"I thought you didn't want to be friends?"

Santana shrugged. "Maybe I've changed my mind. You seem kind of cool. Plus you're popular, so if I hang out with you I'm building up a good reputation."

Brittany wanted to protest. She wanted to say that she was more than just a popular kid who could be used for other people to gain popularity, but one look in Santana's dark brown eyes made her forget everything. Even if it were for the most ridiculous reason ever, she still got to hang out with Santana. That was totally worth it, right?

"So about that dance we gotta do," Brittany said. "Yesterday I did some improvising and I think I came up with a pretty good basic routine. We can always add more difficult stuff later."

The other girl looked around nervously, as if she was trying to check if anyone was listening to their conversation. She bit her lower lip, suddenly seeming uncomfortable again. "Can we – can you not discuss this dancing thing in public?"

Oh. Right. If she was going to be like this all the time... Brittany grimaced. "Okay. Let me give you my phone number, in case you change your mind." She quickly wrote it down on a piece of paper, sliding it towards Santana. Their hands touched for a split second, and it felt like electrics shooting up her arm.

"Thanks, I guess." Santana pulled out her iPhone and added the number to her phone. Then she quickly sent an empty text to Brittany. "Now you have my number too."

Brittany shouldn't probably be this excited about getting Santana's phone number, and she had a hard time containing her happiness. Instead she turned away from the Latina, pretending to focus on her notebook. This whole thing started to become _really_ annoying. Why couldn't she just interact with Santana without getting all tingly inside? Quinn had described these feelings once to her – when they were talking about boys. Apparently you only got them when you were crushing on someone. Could it really be? Could she be crushing on Santana? But the girl had been nothing but mean to her. Well, except for that note and the stuff she said today. Feelings were confusing, Brittany decided. And yet, at the same time they weren't.

* * *

"H-have you ever had_ feelings_ for a girl before?" Brittany asked nervously. She and Quinn had just gotten ice cream because Brittany felt like eating ice cream, and now they were sitting in the front of her car.

"What?" Quinn replied. "No? Um... Why? Do you think you're liking someone?"

"Maybe, yeah." Brittany shrugged. "I don't know. I've never really had feelings for _anyone_ really."

"Well, I can't really help you with that. You'll have to figure stuff like that out on your own... Since no one knows what you're feeling except for you." Quinn spoke slowly, as if she was thinking about every word.

Brittany sighed, pushing her ice cream around in its bowl. "I don't know what I'm feeling."

"There's no rush figuring things out, though. Especially not if it's feelings for a girl."

"I don't really see the difference." Brittany shrugged, taking another bite of her ice cream. "Love is love, right?"

"I suppose, yeah." Quinn pursed her lips. She put the spoon back in her ice cream, holding it in front of Brittany. "Do you still want this?"

"No. I'm done too." Brittany got out of her car, taking Quinn's jar with her. As she threw them both in the bin she thought about what Quinn had said. The girl hadn't been much of a help – and she had seemed a bit uncomfortable about the subject too. Brittany didn't understand that unease her friend was feeling. Like she said, she didn't see the difference between liking a boy or liking a girl. She knew people got worked up about some people being gay, but to her it was all the same. Another reason why she didn't get Santana's fear of rumors about her being a lesbian.

She walked back to the car. "Do you want to hang out?"

"I can't... I have a lot of homework to catch up on. I've been hanging out with Sam way too much lately," Quinn answered regrettably.

"You can do homework at my place. I just don't want to be all alone again."

"Are your parents still away that much?"

Brittany nodded slowly. "They keep saying it's work, but somehow they always come home together. I think they just do nice stuff together while me and Demi are home alone."

Quinn shot her a compassionate look. It made Brittany feel like she was someone other people had to pity, which wasn't a good feeling. "So... you're coming over?"

"Yeah, okay. But only if you promise not to distract me all the time."

Brittany smiled widely. "I promise."

* * *

About thirty minutes later the two blondes were sitting in Brittany's bedroom. Quinn was on her bed writing a paper on some historical thing, and Brittany was sitting on the floor, listening to music. As she promised she didn't make a sound – besides humming along to the song. Her friend hadn't said anything about it yet, so she assumed it was okay to hum.

Somewhere around five she decided to text Santana. _So... What do you think? –B_

It didn't take the Latina long to reply. _What do I think about what? –S_

_The stuff I told you today at school. –B_

"Who are you texting? You're all smiles," Quinn noticed. She moved on the bed, looking over Brittany's shoulder.

In a flash Brittany remembered Santana not wanting everybody to know they would be dancing together in the competition, but then she also remembered Quinn already knowing. So she just shrugged. "Santana."

"I thought you hated her?"

"What?" Brittany exclaimed. "I never said that, did I?"

"No. I just assumed." Quinn shrugged, laying back again. "Are you two still going to dance together for the competition?"

Brittany just nodded, smiling. Her phone vibrated in her hand, and she tapped the screen to open the message. _You would have to show me the stuff you came up with. How about tomorrow after practice? –S_

_I have glee club rehearsals tomorrow. But you can come if you like. –B_

_Glee club? Isn't that the loser-club? –S_

_Some people think that yes, but some of the kids are really talented. It's a lot of fun. They're actually my best friends, even though most of them are kind of weird... Hm. –B_

_I'll think about it. –S_

"Santana is coming to glee club with us, tomorrow," Brittany informed Quinn, who was laying on her back, staring at the ceiling.

The other blonde sat up, furrowing her brow. "I thought she didn't want to hang out with losers?"

"She doesn't. But I'm sure she'll come along." Brittany nodded, more to herself than to Quinn. She quickly typed a reply, and smiled before hitting send. _Cool. So it's a date? –B_

_If that's what you like to call it... but don't tell anyone else. I'll see you tomorrow, Britt. –S_


	6. Chapter 6

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* * *

"Brittany!" someone hissed in Brittany's ear. "Brittany, wake up!"

Brittany slowly opened her eyes, only to look Quinn directly in the eye. The girl cocked an eyebrow. "You basically slept for twelve hours and I still have to wake you up?"

Brittany nodded. "I love to sleep. Because when I sleep I dream, and I sometimes dream about having a pet unicorn."

Quinn shook her head, climbing off Brittany's bed. The blonde had stayed the night because Brittany didn't feel like bringing her home last night, so she didn't really have much of a choice but to stay.

A few minutes later Brittany forced herself to step out of bed. There was something she needed to remember, but of course she had forgotten. Looking around her bedroom she came to the conclusion Quinn was nowhere to be found. "Quinn? Are you in the bathroom?"

She immediately got an answer. "Yes."

Pushing a couple of hairs out of her face Brittany started undressing herself. Most of the time she just slept in sweatpants and a tank top, so it didn't take her long. Despite what most people thought, Cheerios did have more than one uniform. It would be kind of gross if they didn't. Sometime between sophomore and junior year the uniforms had changed too, because Coach Sylvester thought they were getting 'old'. So the design changed and every Cheerio had to purchase new outfits. Brittany didn't mind. She liked the uniforms – and the status she got wearing them. It put her on top of the McKinley food chain, and even being in glee club didn't ruin that. Another reason why she didn't understand Santana's concern about hanging out with 'losers'.

Oh right! Santana! She was coming to glee club today. Brittany was already looking forward to it.

"Are we going to grab breakfast on the way?" Quinn asked as she walked back into the room. Before Brittany could answer her the girl had walked over to her, helping her zip up. She had already put on her own uniform in the bathroom, but Brittany always had some trouble with the zipper. Even as a dancer she couldn't always reach it. Weird, actually. Sometimes she could zip it up just fine and other times she needed help. Although that probably had something to do with whether or not there was somebody around to help her.

"We can get something on the way," Brittany said, putting on her jacket. She grabbed her phone to check the time. 7:30. They still had about half an hour.

* * *

During lunch break Brittany noticed Santana sitting outside, completely alone. She was holding a burning cigarette in one hand, and a bottle of water in the other. For a second, Brittany didn't know what to do. Should she go up to the girl? They were kind of friends now, but it was still Santana. There was a reason she was always sitting alone – because she was mean. You never knew what to expect when talking to the Latina.

Shrugging, Brittany decided it was worth a shot. She nudged Quinn, gesturing at the lonely girl outside. The blonde's eyes narrowed, but she didn't object, like Brittany expected her to. So she picked up her plate and started walking towards Santana.

It wasn't until she put her plate down and actually sat next to the Latina that the girl actually noticed her. Her expression changed only slightly, from bored to a little less bored.

"You know, you really shouldn't smoke," Brittany pointed out, looking at the girl sideways. "It affects your stamina, and you'll need it for cheerleading... And for dancing."

When Santana didn't respond, the blonde bit her lower lip. Taking a bite she observed the Latina's face. Her eyes showed a slightly distant look, and every once in a while she would absentmindedly take a drag of her cigarette.

Brittany didn't mind the silence. She figured it would be better to not speak at all than have Santana spit out harsh words all the time. She didn't really know where she stood with the girl. The friendly conversation they had going on yesterday via text messaging wasn't in any way a guarantee today would be the same. That's one thing she had learned about Santana Lopez – the girl had some trouble keeping a steady mood. Her mood swings were worse than Quinn's, and that was saying something.

Just when she thought Santana had forgotten about her presence, the girl spoke up. "I know. It's just a bad habit I picked up in 10th grade."

"Have you been smoking since 10th grade? No wonder you almost fainted a couple days ago at practice," Brittany exclaimed.

"I have a perfectly good stamina," Santana answered, her voice slightly annoyed. "Coach Sylvester is just completely out of her mind."

Brittany nodded. "That too." As she finished her food she got up to throw the remains in the bin. Then she walked back to the table to sit on the table leaf. She quickly glanced around, noticing they were the only two outside. It was probably too cold for everyone else.

Santana noticed it too. She licked her full lips, grimacing. "Is glee club really as fun as you made it sound like?"

"Most of the time, yeah," Brittany nodded. She started playing with the pleads of her Cheerios skirt, and then looked up to Santana again. "I was wondering... If you hate dancing so much – why even bother to take lessons?"

Santana shrugged. "Because I don't. _Hate_ it, I mean. I didn't just join the Cheerios because these outfits are so comfortable either."

"Okay... But still. You don't want to dance with _me_," Brittany said, slowly. She was unsure about what she could and couldn't say, considering Santana sometimes just snapped out of nowhere. She had seen it happening. One second the Latina would just be talking to a random person, and the next she slapped them so hard the sound could even be heard opposite of the hallways.

Santana sighed, throwing away the cigarette butt. "I thought we went over this already, Britt."

"We did," Brittany whispered. There was something about the way Santana said her name – or nickname. It made her heart flutter and she suddenly became aware of her blood pumping through her ears. She swallowed before continuing. "I think that if you didn't care so much about reputation everything would be a lot more fun." Without waiting for an answer, she got up. As much as she wanted to stay with Santana, part of her knew it wouldn't be the smartest idea. If she really wanted this friendship to work she had to keep her distance every now and then.

* * *

After lunch was Brittany's free period, and she had no idea what to do. She wandered around the corridors a bit, eventually finding herself in the empty choir room. She liked this place. Not just because this was where she could sing and dance at the same time, but also because this was where she met her friends. Sure, she liked the Cheerios, but she _cared_ about the New Directions. And they cared about her too. She saw it in their eyes when they looked at her.

Even without the music this room had some sort of vibe. It caused her body to start moving to a beat only she could feel. While she danced she closed her eyes, knowing exactly how many steps she could take in each direction without bumping into something, like a chair.

When two hands grabbed her own and a body was pressed up against her back she froze, but only for a few seconds. She knew these hands, this body, this rhythm... They had danced together so many times already. There was no explanation needed, no music, no words. By the slightest movement of the other they knew which way to go, which muscle to tighten.

Brittany swiftly turned around, facing Mike this time. He had a big smile on his face, still following her lead. "How did you know it was me?"

"Of course I do. You'd know if it was me too," Brittany simply answered. She poked his chest with her index finger. "I'm really jealous of Tina, you know."

Mike grabbed the blonde's hand, pulling her towards the chairs. As they both sat down he looked her in the eye. Brittany always felt like he could just look straight through her. But she never felt uncomfortable with Mike knowing her thoughts. Despite their differences he was basically her best friend, and dancing with him was always her favorite time of the week.

"If it was us dancing together we would have definitely won the competition," Brittany added, when Mike didn't say anything. "I wish I weren't late for class last week."

Mike narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, I know how badly you want to win those tickets. But... I have to be honest. I think even if you would have been on time I would have still asked Tina first... You know how long I've had this crush on her – it just seemed like the perfect opportunity."

Brittany couldn't help but smile at this. The Asian had been crushing on the other girl since sophomore year already, but he had always been too scared to make a move. So yes, she did understand where he was coming from. But that didn't make it any more fun, sadly enough.

"You're dancing with Santana now, aren't you?" Mike asked. "Isn't she nice?"

Brittany scoffed, but cringed at the same time. She didn't like talking bad about Santana, even though it was true. "She's... okay. I guess. She keeps saying she doesn't want to dance with me because I'm a girl, and I just don't get why."

Mike nodded slowly. His brow furrowed as he bit his lower lip, looking a bit unsure. "I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this, but... I think I might know why she's being so weird about that." He frowned, and shifted a bit closer to Brittany, as if he was trying to make sure no one could hear him.

Brittany was confused. She knew Mike was about to say something really serious, she could see it in his eyes. That was another thing she liked about their friendship – they could discuss anything.

"You know she is a transfer, right?"

Brittany nodded.

"I don't really know where she's from, but it's in Ohio for sure. This state is not really... accepting when it comes to people being gay. See, Santana was outed at her previous high school, which caused a lot of bullying. That's why she transferred in the middle of the year – because her family moved here quite recently. I think that's why she's being such a pain about dancing with you – she's afraid she'll be bullied again." Mike spoke slowly, making sure Brittany got every word of what he was saying.

As the blonde listened to her best friend she began to understand. Of course! Everything just made sense now. If Santana had really been it explained the attitude, and the walls she had build around herself.

"H-how do you know this?" Brittany asked, unsure. She knew she could trust Mike, but how come _he_ knew about this and not her? After all, she had been the only one trying to be friendly to the Latina.

"I overheard a conversation between her and Miss Pillsbury," Mike answered. "I didn't mean to, but the door was open and I couldn't help but hearing some stuff."

Brittany nodded slowly, pursing her lips. "So does this mean Santana is a lesbian?"

"I think so, yeah. But don't tell anyone! We're not even supposed to know this. We could get in trouble if it came out we know."

"No, of course," Brittany mumbled, still deep in thought. She pitied Santana now she knew about her past. Suddenly she felt bad about pressuring Santana into dancing with her – even though it wasn't technically her fault. It was just a series of happenings that all came together in this one unfortunate outcome.

But at the same time she felt somewhat relieve. Because this meant Santana could return her feelings, right? She knew it wasn't fair to think like this, but she couldn't help herself. At least now she had more of a chance than five minutes ago.

Mike noticed a change in Brittany's mood and he raised his eyebrows, a smile tugging his lips. "You look like you just saw a unicorn."

Brittany laughed, throwing back her head. She slapped Mike's knee and shook her head, still chuckling. "Who knows? Maybe I have."

Mike laughed too, even though he clearly didn't know what about. Brittany wasn't sure whether she should explain herself either – she didn't want to cause any trouble. It was best if she and Santana worked things out together now. She wouldn't necessarily have to tell the other girl she knew her secret, but she sure could drop some hints – make the Latina feel comfortable around her.

As Brittany thought of the best way to approach Santana about this, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, tapping the screen to open the message. As she read it, her face fell.

_Sorry Britt, but I can't. –S_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Yay, keep the reviews and follows/favorites coming! It's highly motivating to keep on writing :D **

**Also I want to dedicate this chapter to Julia, because she's awesome and I love her. **

**And if you wanna talk to me about this fic, or anything else... You can!**

**Twitter: girlbased_**

**Tumbr: girlbased . tumblr . com without the spaces of course.**

* * *

Glee club wasn't half as much fun as it would have been if Santana were there, Brittany thought while she swayed in the back of the auditorium. They were rehearsing songs for the set list for Regionals, and of course Finn and Rachel got the lead. Brittany understood why, even though she thought it would be better if someone good-looking like her got a solo too. Sure, Rachel's voice was great, but her face not so much. But she got to dance most of the time, so it was okay.

"That was great, guys!" Will exclaimed excitedly. He waved his hands around in the air, which made him look absolutely ridiculous. "From the top!"

Brittany sighed. As much as she loved glee club it became boring to sing the same song over and over again. Especially if it was a ballad, because except for Finn and Rachel no one would really be on stage during those songs.

"I have to pee," she mumbled to no one in particular. Mike glanced over at her, looking just as bored as the blonde. She grimaced at him, before walking off the stage. Taking her time, she walked out of the auditorium, towards the bathroom. She wasn't in a rush, so she stopped at her locker on the way too.

"You sounded pretty," a familiar voice suddenly came from behind. Brittany turned around on her heels swiftly, looking at the small Latina standing there. She hadn't spoken to Santana since the text. They'd seen each other at cheer practice, but the Latina seemed to purposely be avoiding her, and Brittany didn't want to pressure her into talking. So instead of approaching Santana she had been hanging around her other Cheerio-friends in the locker room afterwards.

"You heard? I thought you couldn't make it." Brittany raised her eyebrows, closing her locker.

Santana bit her lip in unease. "Um, yeah, I was listening to you guys." She shrugged, avoiding Brittany's gaze. As she nervously played with the pleads of her Cheerios skirt, she frowned. "I'm sorry for... the text. I just didn't want people to think that –"

"That you're gay," Brittany finished the sentence. She pursed her lips slightly. "I know. It's okay."

"Yeah," Santana mumbled. "I-I should go." She started turning around when Brittany grabbed her hand. "Wait. Now you're here... I can skip glee rehearsals. We can _dance_."

The Latina's eyes lowered to their conjoint hands, pulling away quickly. "I can't, I'm sorry Brittany."

"But why not? You agreed with me yesterday! What has changed? You don't have homework – we're basically in the same classes and we didn't get any. It's just a dance, Santana!" Brittany exclaimed, slightly impatient. "No one has to know."

Santana raised her hand, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. She seemed to be debating with herself, but eventually she sighed. "Okay."

"Okay?" Brittany repeated, somewhat surprised. She hadn't expected it to be this easy, especially not with the newly gained information in mind. "Okay!" She smiled, pulling out her phone. She quickly texted Mike, letting him know she wasn't coming back to the auditorium. "We can go to the gym, if you want. Or the dance studio... I'm pretty sure it's open."

"Gym is fine." Santana spoke quickly, seemingly a tad uncomfortable. Brittany decided not to pay attention to it – no one was going to find out they were dancing together anyway.

In silence both girls walked to the gym. Just as they entered the enormous room Brittany's phone vibrated and she unlocked the screen. _I'll tell Mr. Shue! Have fun dancing! –M_

"Who are you texting?" Santana asked nervously. She had walked to the middle of the room, turning around.

"Just Mike," Brittany explained. "If I would just disappear like that he might have thought I was being abducted by aliens or something."

"Aliens don't exist."

"Sure they do! We just never met them... I'm sure they're friendly." Brittany smiled.

Santana raised her eyebrows, looking at the blonde funny. "If they're so friendly, why would they abduct you?"

"Because I'm hot," Brittany simply answered. She stuck out her tongue, walking towards the Latina. "Now about that dance... I'll show you what I've already done."

She pulled out her iPod, looking for the correct song. Keeping the music device in her hand she pressed play. Her body immediately absorbed the music and she started moving. For the first time since ever she didn't forget someone was watching her. She felt Santana's gaze on her moving body, and found it surprisingly distracting.

Somewhere halfway the chorus she suddenly stopped, shrugging. "That's all I have."

Santana laughed quietly at the sudden stop. "You're a really great dancer, Britt."

Before Brittany could help herself she nodded. "I know." Then she felt her face grow red, and she bit her lip. "Wow, that sounded so –"

"It's okay to know you're good at something." Santana smiled. "Can you teach me those steps? I like it."

* * *

After about an hour and a half both girls were breathing heavily, and covered in sweat. They had been dancing the entire time, going over the steps over and over again. Their choreography was done until somewhere around the second verse. The pre-chorus was the hardest because it was so fast, and something went wrong the entire time they tried to go over it. Eventually Santana just layed down on the floor, suppressing a laugh. Her chest was moving heavily up and down, and Brittany couldn't take her eyes of the Latina. She slumped to the floor, laying on her side so she could look at Santana. "If your stamina was better you wouldn't have to stop every second."

Santana turned her head, looking at the blonde with a slightly arrogant expression on her face. "I didn't have to stop every second. You just picked a stupid song."

Brittany rolled on her back when the other girl said 'stupid'. Even though it sounded completely hot, it didn't make her like the word any more. "You agreed with me on the song, though. We're not changing it."

"Of course not. We already have this much – it would be a waste of time if we didn't go through with it."

"Exactly."

Silence.

Brittany looked over at the other girl again, and she suddenly had to fight the urge to kiss her. Her full lips just seemed so appealing, and her glittering skin made Brittany all tingly inside. She bit her lip, not knowing what to do next. It was clear they weren't going to dance anymore, but she didn't want to say goodbye just yet. So she cleared her throat. "How are you liking McKinley?"

"It's okay, I guess." Santana kept staring at the ceiling, not moving one inch. "A lot better than my previous school, that is."

"How come?" Brittany asked, trying not to show she already knew the answer too much.

"The people sucked. The people here suck a little bit less." Santana smiled sadly, turning her head to look at Brittany. "What about you? Do _you_ like McKinley?"

The blonde sighed, trying to shrug – which only looked absolutely ridiculous because she was lying on the floor. "No. I hate school. It's such a waste of time... I don't want to go to college anyway."

"Then why don't you just drop out?" Santana wondered out loud. "If you hate it so much... No one is forcing you to go."

Brittany snorted. "I wish it was that easy. My parents want me to graduate, because it's easier getting a job if you have a diploma or something."

"Well, they're right, you know? You barely get anywhere if you haven't graduated high school these days."

"Yeah," Brittany sighed. "I know."

A silence fell between the girls – again. Brittany wanted to ask Santana about everything – her past, her family, even her sexuality. But she figured it wouldn't be much of a help in befriending this girl. So she kept quiet, staring at the ceiling. Every once in a while she would glance over at Santana, only to see the girl lay perfectly still – eyes closed. How could someone be so beautiful yet looking as exhausted as the Latina did, Brittany wondered.

It must be hard to be Santana, she thought. Hiding yourself from the rest of the world, not realizing all the awesomeness you are. Maybe that was why Santana looked so weary all the time, because hiding was more difficult than showing sometimes. Or maybe it were just the cigarettes and the intense cheerleading practices.

"I think it's time for me to go home," Santana said, getting up. She pushed a few hairs out of her face, and turned to Brittany. "I had a lot of fun today."

Brittany's face lightened up. "You did?"

"Of course," Santana nodded. She smiled at the blonde for a few seconds, before biting her lip. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Brittany answered. "See you tomorrow."

* * *

About fifteen minutes after Santana left Brittany finally decided to do the same. She'd been laying on the floor for a while now, and her back was starting to hurt. She pushed herself up slowly, grabbing her bag and iPod off the floor. Walking towards her car she realized _her car_ was the only one left on the parking lot. And there was someone sitting against it.

Oh shit. She had forgotten about Quinn _again_. Pretending like she hadn't she approached the girl. "Here I am. Have you been waiting for long?"

"Glee club ended _forty-five minutes_ ago, Brittany," Quinn answered, looking pissed. "Did you forget you had to drive me home?"

"Nope. I've just been busy." Brittany shrugged, opening the car doors. "You could've gone home with Sam if you didn't want to wait for me."

"Sam had other stuff to do. You could've at least texted me you were still busy," Quinn sighed, getting into the car. "What were you doing anyway?"

"I was dancing with Santana," Brittany simply answered. "For tomorrow's dance class."

The other girl cocked an eyebrow. "Santana? I thought she didn't want to dance with you."

"Well, she changed her mind. A few days ago, actually."

"Oh."

Both girls remained silence for the rest of the drive. Brittany didn't really want to talk about Santana to Quinn – not that she didn't trust the blonde, she just didn't seem to like her very much. Which wasn't really _that_ weird because Santana was being a real bitch towards basically everyone – though most people would understand if they knew her story. Sadly enough they didn't, so they hated her. It was probably easier to be hated for reasons you picked yourself than for something you couldn't help.

After dropping Quinn off at her house, Brittany drove home slowly. Even though she was probably gross and sweaty from all the dancing she wasn't in a hurry to get home. But eventually she reached her house, and she had to pull over. It would be weird to drive past your own house just because you didn't feel like going inside.

Her parents _and _Demi were home already and the whole house smelled like the dinner her mom was cooking. Her dad looked up from the television as she came in, following her with his eyes. "You're home late."

"I know, I'm sorry. I was at school for a little while longer." Brittany didn't feel the need to explain herself any more, and she went upstairs quickly. Luckily no one questioned her, and she rushed into the bathroom. Undressing herself from her Cheerios uniform she looked in the mirror, studying her own naked body.

Would Santana be into blondes? Or blue eyes? Maybe she needed a tan... She was sure Coach Sylvester would pay for it, considering she always wanted her Cheerios to look the best they could.

She slowly cupped her own boobs, suddenly questioning if they were the right size. What if Santana liked them big? _Her_ boobs were awesome after all.

Frowning, Brittany turned on the shower. She shivered under the heat of the jets, leaning her head backwards. Images of a few days ago flashed through her mind, causing a familiar throb between her legs. For a second she thought about giving in to the urge, but then decided against it. She didn't like the feeling she felt _afterwards_ – it always made her feel guilty. Besides, if she wanted to get laid she could pick any guy she wanted. They were almost lining up for her. The only problem was that she didn't _want_ to have sex with a guy, not this time. She didn't want to have sex with anyone, but Santana. But she didn't see that happening any time soon.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thank you guys for all your support. It really means a lot to me that you enjoy reading this - as much as I enjoy writing it? :) Keep the reviews coming! 3**

* * *

The next morning at 11am sharp Brittany stepped into the dance studio. Her eyes wandered the room, looking for a certain brunette, only to find out she wasn't there... yet.

Shelby Corcoran hadn't arrived yet either, but most students were already stretching or talking to one another.

Immediately when Brittany and Quinn got inside they were noticed by Mike, who quickly walked over to the two blondes. He and Brittany looked at Quinn in a certain way, and the girl knew she had to leave. Rolling her eyes she went over to Sam – who was standing next to Finn, and they hugged.

Mike and Brittany walked to the furthest corner they could find, and sat down on the floor. Mike cleared his throat and leaned in. "Have you talked to Santana yesterday?"

"Yes. We danced, and then we talked."

"No, I mean about the stuff I told you about," Mike said, smiling.

"Oh." Brittany frowned, feeling dumb. Then she shook her head. "Just about school and stuff."

Mike nodded understanding. "Are you _ever _going to talk about it, then? Since, well, you're dancing together and all? I can imagine you two having to spend a lot of time together now."

"I don't know yet. Maybe? I figured it wasn't going to help if I kept pushing her into talking about it... Especially because we're actually not supposed to know." Brittany shrugged, stretching her legs in front of her. As she bowed down to touch her toes she looked at Mike again. "Do you think I should? Ask her about it, I mean."

The Asian bit his lip, shrugging and shaking his head at the same time. "Maybe. When you know each other a bit better... Trying won't hurt anyone, would it?"

"If you have to transfer schools and put up this bitch act... I think it would."

Before Mike could respond to that Miss Corcoran entered the room, too. "Alright, class. Let's do some warming up first – and then you can all work on your choreography for the competition."

Brittany looked around, but Santana still hadn't shown up. Maybe she was just late, she told herself. Last week she had been late too, and eventually she had just shown up. So she grabbed Mike's extended hand and let him pull her up. They started following Miss Corcoran's lead in stretching and all, but Brittany wasn't really paying attention.

Throughout the full class she kept her eye on the door, waiting for Santana's face to show up in the doorway. She swayed a bit in the background, looking at Mike and Tina's dancing. There wasn't much she could do really – she literally needed Santana. But she never showed.

* * *

When the class ended Brittany had done nothing but stand and look at others while they danced. She was pretty pissed, actually. She wasn't a violent person, and it was hard to make her angry, but the way Santana treated her was just unfair. And honestly, the Latina's mood swings started to get to her. She didn't deserve this pushing and pulling!

So after telling Quinn she couldn't drive her home, Brittany got into her car, shoving away the almost empty bag of bagels. Within seconds she had the engine up and working, and she stepped on the gas. She knew exactly where to go: straight to Lima Heights Adjacent.

Oddly enough she remembered the route to Santana's house by heart, so it only took her a few minutes to get there. She quickly got out of the car, walking to the front door. Breathing in and out a few times she rang the bell, impatiently waiting for it to open.

About thirty seconds after she had arrived the door opened, and an Latina woman stood before her. "Um, hello?"

"Hi," Brittany said, pursing her lips. "Is Santana home?"

"Yes..." the woman said. "Why do you ask?"

Brittany sucked on her lower lip as she thought about an answer. Her brow furrowed, and then she just shrugged. "I need to talk to her."

"May I ask who you are?" The woman – probably Santana's mom – had to look up to Brittany, but she had this thing that told the blonde she shouldn't play games with her. Maybe it had something to do with her slightly Spanish accent.

"I am Brittany S. Pierce," Brittany said, holding out her hand. "I got to school with Santana."

"Oh, you're the girl who brought her home a few days ago?"

"Yes, I am." Brittany smiled brightly, almost forgetting why she was here. A sudden flow of warmth took over her body. Santana had mentioned her to her family. That meant something... right?

"Well, my name is Maribel, and I'm Santana mother – but you probably figured that out already. Santana's upstairs, you can go see her." Maribel stepped aside, letting Brittany in. The blonde smiled at her, stepping inside. "Thanks, Mrs. Lopez."

Without any further conversation Brittany walked towards the staircase. She didn't get to see the living room – unfortunately – but the hallway looked nice. The house wasn't the biggest she'd ever been in – that'd probably be Quinn's – but it didn't seem like a small place. Just cozy. The walls had various pictures of different family members on them. There were Santana's parents, an older woman – her grandmother probably – and _a lot_ of pictures of Santana herself. Some were quite recent, other were baby pictures. Brittany felt her heart melt when she looked at them.

At the top of the staircase, Brittany stood still. She had no idea which door lead to Santana's bedroom. Oh god. She was about to see Santana's bedroom. Suddenly she felt nervous, and she had the urge to just run away grew every second. But she shook her head firmly. She wasn't going to give in. But still, she was a bit lost. The first door she opened led to a small room with clothing all over it – probably laundry. This was definitely _not_ Santana's room. Or maybe it was, but she wasn't there.

So Brittany tried another door. It led to a bedroom with black _everywhere_. There were a few red and white things, and the bed itself was a brownish color – so was the closet by the way – but the walls and bedding were black. Brittany didn't understand how anyone could live here – she would be depressed within minutes.

Brittany almost turned around again when she noticed someone laying in the bed. It was definitely a she – and since she'd seen Maribel downstairs and the grandmother had shorter and lighter hair this must be Santana. Was she still in bed? Asleep even? She didn't even bother to get up for dance lessons.

Brittany sighed, quietly closing the bedroom door behind her. For a second she didn't really know what to do. Walking around the bed, Brittany kept her eyes on Santana. The girl was still asleep, and Brittany almost smiled at how cute the Latina looked. Her face was completely relaxed and her lips were slightly parted. Her dark hair was spread out like a fan and she seemed to tug on her blanket as if it was her life.

A grin spread over Brittany's face and she grabbed the blanket. This was probably a bad idea. Santana was probably going to be _so_ pissed at her. So she pulled.

"Aaah!" Santana screamed when her blanket was suddenly pulled away. "¡Maldita sea maldito idiota!"

"I'm sorry," Brittany said calmly. "I don't speak Spanish. Could you repeat it in English, please?"

"What?" Santana's head snapped up, and she fell of her bed in shock. Hiding behind her mattress she looked at Brittany. "What the _fuck_ are you doing here?"

Brittany sat down on the bed, running a hand through her hair. She suddenly realized she was still wearing her dancing clothes, but she wasn't sweaty or anything so it was probably okay. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I _live_ here. God, who the hell let you in? This is my room, god damnit!" Santana yelled, getting up. She was wearing sweatpants and a tank top that was maybe a little bit too tight. Brittany found herself awfully distracted by it.

"Your mom let me in, because I waited for _one and a half hour_ for you in dance class today, Santana. Couldn't you at least send me a text like you did with glee club? Then I could've stayed in bed too, instead of bother to even get up." Brittany knew she sounded pissed, but maybe this was just the push in the right direction Santana needed. She really needed to learn to communicate.

Santana grabbed a hoodie off her chair, putting it on. She pushed a few hairs out of her face, pursing her lips. "Oh."

"Seriously, Santana? That's all you have to say? You make me _get up_ and _drive to the studio_ and _wait for you_ and all you say is 'oh'?" Brittany tried not to sound too mad, but Santana was making this really hard. She wasn't a bad person – or an aggressive person for that matter – but she didn't like it if someone didn't treat her like she deserved.

"Well, I don't do sorry, and besides. You pulled off my blanket. That's like the rudest way to wake someone." Santana raised her eyebrows, grabbing the blanket off the ground. "And you made me hurt my back." She grabbed her back in exaggeration, pretending to be in a lot of pain.

And with that the tension between the two girls was broken. Brittany just couldn't stay mad at Santana, she figured. The girl had this... _thing_ that appealed her. She didn't know what it was, but she couldn't help herself. "Well, I'm sorry for waking you like that. I guess I was just pissed because you let me wait. Besides... You already apologized to me once before."

Santana sucked on her lower lip, nodding slowly. "I know... I guess I'm also a bit sorry? I should've texted." She grimaced. "But I had a _lovely _time while you were in the dance studio doing nothing at all."

"How can you have a lovely time when you're asleep?"

"Sleeping is great. It's my favorite activity." A smile tugged the corner of Santana's lips, and she showed a small crooked smile. "But okay, did you _just_ drove all the way over here to pull my blanket away? Or did you want anything else? I'm awake now anyway."

Brittany's brow furrowed. "We can dance?"

"Britt, I'm still in my pajamas," Santana said, shaking her head. She seemed more relaxed, Brittany noticed. She wondered why. Could it have something to do with Santana being home? In her own bedroom? She knew this place – and trusted it too, probably. It seemed like the most logical explanation.

"You can change. I promise I won't look." Brittany winked. She didn't _want_ to come off as flirtatious but she when she was near Santana she seemed to have lost all the control over her body.

Santana's face grew red. "Um..."

"Or I'll stand in the hallway, waiting for you," Brittany said, a bit too quickly. "If you prefer that."

The Latina nodded shyly, and Brittany got up. "No problem. And um, we can just go to the dance studio when you're finished. I'm sure Miss Corcoran is still there."

"Okay."

* * *

Almost forty minutes later the girls stepped into the dance studio. Santana was walking behind Brittany, seemingly hiding. Was she afraid Miss Corcoran was going to say something about her not showing up?

During the car drive Brittany had basically seen the Latina slip back into the more closed version of herself. The look in her eyes had changed, and the girl seemed to tense every time something unexpected happened. Her jaw was more clenched, as were her shoulders. Her hands were balled up into loose fists, rather than just relaxed. It worried Brittany. She wanted so badly for Santana to feel comfortable in her own skin – and around her, but she made it seem like the hardest thing to do. For the first time she wished they had stayed at Santana's house instead of come to the dance studio. Even though she didn't like all the black in Santana's bedroom it was quickly rising up to the top of her favorite places.

"Miss Lopez," a familiar voice said. Santana straightened her back, cocking an eyebrow in defense.

"How nice of you to show up after all. Too bad you're over two hours late." Miss Corcoran crossed her arms and everything about her seemed to demand answers.

"I... I overslept," Santana said, nodding slowly. "Brittany came to wake me up."

"Your attitude makes me wonder if you even want to _be_ here," Miss Corcoran continued. "First lesson you showed up twenty minutes late. Now you didn't even show up at all. If I may ask... Why do you take these lessons?"

The Latina bit her lip in unease. She shrugged, staring at her feet. "I guess I like to dance."

"Then try to act like it. If you don't show up _on time_ next week I'll have to call your parents. They have the right to know what's going on." She then turned to Brittany. "I take it you know how this stuff works?" She gestured at the sound equipment. "I will be in the next room teaching another class. If you need help... You know where to find me."

"Thank you, Miss Corcoran." Brittany smiled and nodded at the same time.

When the door fell shut behind the woman's back Santana spoke up. "I really blew it this time, didn't I?"

Brittany frowned. "Yeah, you did." Then she walked over to the speakers and pulled out her iPod. Tapping the screen for the right song she put it in and walked back to Santana. When the music started both girls started to move. They both remembered the steps perfectly – which impressed Brittany. Santana kept surprising her.

Improvising the last part of the song, Brittany closed her eyes. She didn't want to be distracted by Santana, and the girl's _presence_ was distracting enough already. As the song ended and another one –a ballad – started she opened her eyes, only to see the Latina stare at her in awe. Without really thinking she grabbed the girl's hands and pulled her closer, slow dancing to the music. Santana started to protest, but then changed her mind and relaxed a bit. She clenched her eyes shut and bit her lip. She seemed nervous, but then pressed her body lightly against Brittany's. The blonde tensed for half a second, before relaxing entirely. A small smile tugged on her lips and she pulled the Latina closer, anxiously awaiting her response. And when Santana didn't protest, the blonde couldn't help but smile her brightest smile.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you - again - for all the reviews and follows and favorites and even just the views! They make me really happy and keep me motivated to keep on writing! So keep them coming! **

**This chapter is a bit shorter than normally, but I hope you like it all the same. **

* * *

They spent all Saturday together. First at the dance studio, then Santana's home. The invitation came suddenly and unexpected. The two girls were walking out of the building and Brittany was about to say her goodbyes when Santana bit her lip. "Would you like to hang out?"

Brittany, unsure what the Latina meant, nodded slowly. "Sure."

"At my place, I mean."

"Oh."

Santana's eyes narrowed and she stared down at her hands. "Is that okay with you?"

"Yes," Brittany said, a little bit too quickly. A smile tugged her lips and she nodded again. "I'm perfectly okay with that."

So they went to Santana's place. Maribel shot her daughter a questioning look, only to get a destructive one in return. If Brittany hadn't known anything she wouldn't even have noticed it, but it was so clear what the two Latinas were doing. It almost made her smile.

"Do you want anything to eat? You didn't have anything for lunch so I figured you might be hungry," Santana said as soon as her mother left the kitchen. She raised her eyebrows, turning around swiftly. "Or we go out to grab lunch."

Brittany shook her head. "No, we can stay in. I really like your house."

"You-you like my _house_?" Santana's eyes narrowed as a small smirk curled her lips. "It's not _that_ special, is it?"

The blonde shrugged. She honestly didn't know why she had said that. It was true, though. She liked Santana's place, even though her room was really dark and scary. Maybe it was because the Latina seemed to open up a bit more at home. She probably felt more comfortable here, as she didn't really have to hide all the awesomeness she was. Did she know that, Brittany wondered. Or did she know what she did to her? The girl tapped her fingers against the counter. "It smells Spanish in here."

Santana laughed, slapping Brittany's arm softly. "Do you even know what Spanish smells like?"

"Your house?" Brittany smirked. Her heart fluttered when Santana touched her arm, even though there was fabric between them. It felt like electricity jolted through her arm – but it was a nice feeling.

Santana shook her head, still laughing. "Okay. So we'll stay in. What do you want? We have some cold pizza in the fridge... Or I can make hotdogs if you like?"

Brittany pouted. "No cool Spanish food?"

"I'm Hispanic. And no, we're not _that_ kind of people. I mean... We live in Ohio, right?" She stuck out her – perfectly shaped – tongue. Brittany immediately didn't care about the food anymore. But she didn't want to seem weird or something, so she decided to stare at Santana's eyes instead.

The two were silent for a while, and neither of them bothered to move. A small smile tugged Brittany's lips, and she tried her best not to smile like an idiot. So they stood there, eyes locked.

Until Maribel came in again. "Did you guys kill each other? It's so silent all of the – oh. Nevermind. I'll go." And before either of the girls could say something the woman turned around, leaving them alone.

Brittany tried to continue the staring, but all of the sudden things were awkward, and Santana avoided her gaze. So the blonde cleared her throat. "Pizza is fine."

"What?"

"Pizza."

Santana looked at her friend for a moment, visibly confused. Then she snapped her fingers and nodded. "Pizza it is."

* * *

Not long after Brittany was sitting on Santana's bed with a plate in front of her. The Latina was standing in front of her drawer, pulling out some DVD cases. She threw them on her bed, gesturing at them. "Pick something out."

Most of the cases held DVDs Brittany had never even heard of. And then suddenly she came across Lady and the Tramp, and she picked it up. "Can we watch this?"

Santana raised her eyebrows, suppressing a smile. "I figured you'd pick a Disney movie. Pop it in." She pointed at the DVD-player, picking up the other DVDs. As she put them back in the drawer Brittany opened hers, carefully putting it in the DVD-player. She didn't really know how these things worked, but luckily Santana did.

It was silent while the first few scenes played, and Brittany finished her food pretty quickly. "Can you pause the movie?"

Santana did as she was asked, but with a slightly questioning look. "Why?"

"I'll just bring this to the kitchen," Brittany said, getting up from the bed. Santana started to protest, but the blonde was out of the room already – and she didn't hear it. She walked downstairs, memorizing which door led to the kitchen. As she entered the room she found Maribel sitting there, reading a magazine with a cup of coffee in her hand.

The woman looked up as Brittany came in, raising her eyebrows in the exact same way Santana always did. "Brittany! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be up with Santana?"

"Yeah, I just thought I'd bring this down." Brittany put the plate on the counter. She had the sudden urge to ask all kinds of questions to Santana's mom, but it seemed inappropriate. For a second she debated with herself, eventually deciding it didn't matter. Santana wouldn't have to find out she talked to her mom. So she cleared her throat, pursing her lips. "Can I ask you something?"

Maribel nodded.

"Is Santana _really_ a lesbian?" Brittany blurted out.

Maribel's eyes widened. "Where did you hear that?"

"Someone told me." The blonde shrugged. She didn't want to get Mike in trouble for overhearing a supposedly private conversation. "But is it true?"

"I don't think I am the right person to tell you that, Brittany," Maribel answered. She glanced at the half closed kitchen door. "You should really talk to Santana about that stuff."

Brittany bit her lower lip. "I don't think she'd tell me. She's a very reserved person, you know."

"It's Santana." Maribel smiled. "She's got that from her dad."

"Her dad is a lesbian too?" Brittany whispered, eyes going huge. "But he's a man."

The older Latina started laughing, which only confused the blonde even more. "What's so funny?"

"My _husband_ is no lesbian. He's as straight as an arrow," Maribel explained, still shaking from laughter. "I was talking about them both being pretty reserved."

"Oh," Brittany said, suddenly feeling stupid. "Never mind then."

The woman stopped laughing after seeing Brittany's face, and then shook her head. "I can see why Santana likes you."

This got Brittany's attention. "S-Santana likes me?" How? As just a friend or something more? She wanted to ask, but then they were interrupted by a loud cough.

Both Brittany and Maribel looked up, only to see Santana standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she had a slightly annoyed look on her face. "I thought you were only going to bring that plate to the kitchen. _Not_ talk about me to my _mom_."

"I was – I am!" Brittany exclaimed. "I was just a bit... distracted."

"I can see that," Santana mumbled, stepping forward. She grabbed Brittany's hand, linking her own pinkie in the blonde's. "I've been waiting for hours now. Can we please continue watching that movie?"

"Y-yeah, sure." Brittany nodded, letting the Latina pull her out of the kitchen. Back in the bedroom Santana closed the door. "What did you guys talk about?"

Brittany bit her lower lip, looking at their linked pinkies. "Just stuff."

"I know when you're lying, Brittany. You're not a very good liar." Santana's voice sounded even huskier than normally, probably because she was anxious Brittany had found out her secret. Finally Brittany looked up, straight in Santana's dark eyes. "We were talking about how you're like your dad. Reserved and all."

"You were talking about me and my dad being _reserved_ to my mom?" Santana exclaimed, pulling her hand away. The force she put in it stung Brittany's heart, and she sucked on her lip. "Well, yeah."

"And how did you get to that subject?" Santana pressured, acting completely oblivious. The blonde, though, had a feeling they both knew exactly what was going on. Santana just wanted to hear her say it.

"I-I asked..." Brittany began to say. Suddenly she felt hot. Not throbbing-between-thighs-hot, but nervously-trying-to-think-of-a-lie-to-tell-Santana hot. She felt her breath become uneven, and her eyes lowered to Santana's full lips. They were slightly parted and _so_ inviting. Trying to fight the urge, Brittany already knew she had lost the battle. Closing her eyes she leaned in, closing the distance between their faces. Santana's lips hit her hard, as if the other girl pressed herself against Brittany too.

Brittany had never lost control like that – and certainly not for just a kiss. Their lips moved perfectly synchronized, and not too roughly. Maybe it had to do with the fact that this were two girls kissing, or maybe Santana was just a great kisser.

Brittany's hand slipped towards Santana's neck, and the kiss became more heated. At the same time Brittany tried to contain a moan, Santana made a sound that sounded a lot like she enjoyed this – a lot.

Pushing Santana backwards – to the bed – Brittany's hands moved to the Latina's back, and back up to her neck. She cupped one of Santana's cheek, never breaking the kiss. And then Santana's knees hit the bedside, and the two girls laid down as one. Brittany pulled her hands away to use them as support to keep herself from flatly falling onto Santana's body. She licked Santana's lips, and the girl parted them immediately. As Brittany explored the newly given space gently, trying not to be too eagerly. One of her legs slipped between Santana's, pushing them apart. Suddenly her right hand was under Santana's shirt, slowly making its way to her breasts.

And then Santana pulled away. Her eyes were huge, and her face wore an odd expression Brittany didn't understand. She tried to kiss the Latina again, giving in to the urge that had been haunting her since day one, but this time Santana turned her face. Gently but forceful she pushed the blonde away, slipping away from underneath her. "I-I think you should go."

Confused, Brittany ran a hand through her hair. "B-but why?"

Santana's jaw clenched and she breathed heavily in and out. "Just... go."

"Santana..." Brittany tried again, but regretted it immediately. The Latina's eyes went cold and she raised her hand, pointing wildly at the door. "Out! Go! Get the fuck out of my room!"

Brittany did as she was asked, shocked by Santana's sudden mood swing. She ran down the stairs, covering her face with her hands to keep the tears from spilling. Ignoring Maribel's concerned voice she opened the front door, rushing to her car. For a couple seconds she tried to open the doors of her car, failing miserably at that. Her hands were shaking and her breath was uneven. Had she done anything wrong? Santana had clearly kissed her back – somewhat eager even. Then why did she change her mind? Didn't she _like_ Brittany? Didn't she like Brittany the way Brittany liked her? The blonde didn't know, and the ignorance hurt more than the actual rejection. She slumped to the ground, her back against the car. She pulled up her legs, hugged them and a sob escaped from her lips.


	10. Chapter 10

**Wow guys, so many reviews! I love them all! Thank you so much! I feel the need to tell you guys I already have set out a main plotline that I will follow - so any major changes will not be happening. I saw a car crash getting mentioned, but that wouldn't be much of a help for the plot, since it's still about ****_dancing_**** for the most part. If Britt got hit by a car she wouldn't be able to dance. So I'm sorry, but that won't happen. Maybe some other time.** **Anyways, thank you so much for reviewing and reading and everything else! Keep them coming! I love to hear your opinions.**

* * *

Sunday passed, slowly. When Brittany woke up she decided to go for a run to keep her thoughts and feelings away, but then changed her mind last minute. So she stepped on her motorcycle, and drove around town for a while. Trying to desperately avoid any road that led to Lima Heights Adjacent she eventually went off-road. That worked better, as she now had to concentrate on herself not driving into a tree. She loved motocross. Even though she wasn't always racing, she still liked going out by herself, exploring the world. It was the only time she legitimately liked being alone.

For a while she forgot all about Santana, completely focusing on the 'road', but then she slipped and crashed into a pool of mud. She felt the instant wet, ice-cold substance leak through her motocross clothes, and with that she remembered.

She remembered the smell of Santana's skin, the taste of her lips moving softly against hers. She remembered the back of Santana's neck, and how she grabbed it to keep hold of herself. She remembered the way Santana's legs had spread under just the slightest pressure of her own knee. She remembered Santana's dark and scary room, and the bed – specifically. But most of all she remembered how Santana had yelled at her – screamed, even.

She felt a tear dripping down her cheek, but she didn't bother to wipe it away. It wasn't of use anyway, since she knew once she was crying she wasn't going to stop that easily. She hated to cry, it made her feel weak. But right now she actually _felt_ weak, so it didn't matter anyway. So she laid there in the mud, completely still besides an occasional sob. Her bike was laying a meter or so away, and she could hear the engine running. Focusing on that she tried to calm herself down.

Brittany didn't know how long she had been laying there, but after a while she started to get cold. So she forced herself to stand up, and grab her motorcycle. There was still some fuel in it, probably just enough to get home. Maybe she shouldn't have let it run all the time, but then again – she didn't really care at the moment. Covered in mud and salty tears she stepped on the gas, slowly driving her way back home. She only stopped at the gas station to refuel. There were people looking at her funny, but she ignored them. She knew she looked like crap, there was no need for other people to point it out to her. When she got home her parents also stared at her, raising they eyebrows in question. Brittany looked at them, blinking a few times before saying, "Don't ask."

"Are you okay?" Demi mumbled, eyes going wide at the sight of her older sister looking like a mud monster.

Brittany just shrugged in return. She would be okay, eventually. But first she had to sort things out – and she would probably need Santana for that. They had to talk to her, though, as they were still dance partners... Brittany hoped they were. She loved dancing with Santana. The Latina wasn't as good as Mike – but then again, no one was as good as Mike. She liked just watching her dance too.

Turning on the shower she undressed herself. There was mud sticking to almost every part of her body, and now it was drying up it started getting harder to move as smoothly as normally. She stepped under the shower and tilted her head backwards. She let herself slide to the bottom of the shower, just sitting there, letting the water wash away all the dirt from her body. Her hands restlessly kept balling up to fists, only to relax again seconds later. Over and over again. She didn't know why, until she realized it was because she was angry. She was mad at Santana for yelling at her like that. She was mad at the people at Santana's previous school for forcing her guards up that badly she couldn't even make out with a girl. But mostly she was mad at herself. She shouldn't have pushed the Latina that way. She shouldn't be _longing_ for her that way. She shouldn't... But then again. She would do it all over again if she had the chance. Because she _wanted_ Santana, and she knew the girl wanted her too.

* * *

Monday was worse. Brittany tried to avoid Santana the best she could, but during lunch break she caught herself staring at the Latina. She was sitting outside by herself, smoking cigarette after cigarette. Brittany doubted she had anything to eat. She could only see the brunette's back, but that was enough to tell her she was completely tense. Apparently the cigarettes weren't really much of a help.

Quinn nudged Brittany. "What are you staring at?"

"N-nothing," Brittany lied, but it didn't help. The other blonde followed her gaze, and then shook her head. "What's up with you and that Santana-girl?"

For a second Brittany considered telling Quinn everything, but then decided not to. Quinn wasn't really the kind of person that kept secrets. If Quinn knew, most other people knew too. So she shook her head. "Like I said. There is nothing."

"Whatever," Quinn answered, seemingly hurt. "If you don't want to talk about it then don't come to me crying or such." She turned around, asking something to one of the other Cheerios.

Brittany stayed seated for a few more minutes, eventually deciding she didn't really like them anymore. They were spreading rumors and gossiping and bullying other people all the time. It were probably people like them who bullied Santana too. And look what happened to her.

The blonde shot another glance at the girl sitting outside, biting her lower lip – hard. She wanted to go up to her and talk about what happened, but she was sure Santana wouldn't appreciate that. So when she finally got up she turned around and threw her food away. She wasn't all that hungry anymore anyway.

Hopefully the choir room was unlocked. She knew sometimes Rachel went in there to practice her vocals or something, and she didn't really feel like dancing to a weird musical number today. She didn't really know any of them – it wasn't her style.

But when she came into the empty choir room she just sat down on one of the stairs, staring absentmindedly at the black piano. What would Santana's singing voice sound like? It was probably really pretty.

Apparently Mike had the same idea as her, as he came into the choir room only minutes after the blonde. He silently handed her a slushie, and then sat down next to her. "Talk to me, Brittany."

"There's not much to talk about," she replied, taking a zip of the beverage. "Thanks for the slushie, by the way."

"No problem. You should've seen the looks on some of the kids' faces. They're terrified every time a football-player walks past them with a slushie."

Brittany nodded. She'd seen it. Hell, she'd been standing there while the other Cheerios threw slushies in other people's faces, just because they were 'different' before. She always thought it was a waste, since they were actually one of her favorite beverages. She much rather drank them then throwing them at others.

"Are you having trouble with Santana? I saw you looking at her in the cafeteria." Mike honestly looked concerned. Brittany knew she could trust him. He had trusted her several times before, and right now she felt like he was the only one she could talk about. So she spilled. "I kissed Santana."

Silence.

"You _kissed_ Santana? When? Is that why you're so sad? What happened?" Mike spoke quickly, tilting his head sideways. "Wait... You kissed Santana. Does that mean you're...?"

Brittany shrugged. "Yesterday. We were in her room, just hanging out, and then I just kissed her. She started kissing back, until like a few minutes later. Then she started yelling I had to 'get the fuck out of her room' and stuff." She bit her lip, looking down at her slushie. Sighing, she shrugged again. "I don't know. All I know is that I am not gay. I just... like Santana, I guess. Is that possible?"

"I suppose it is..." the Asian mumbled. "But she kissed you back, right? That means she liked it... right?"

"Maybe? I don't know! But now she's ignoring me and she was really mean to me and I don't know what to do."

"C'mhere," Mike said, wrapping his arms around Brittany. The blonde hugged him back, putting down her slushie to get a better grip at the boy's body. She laid her chin on his shoulder, leaning into him a bit more. Closing her eyes felt her lower lip quiver. Trying to keep tears from spilling she bit down on her lip hard, feeling her teeth sink into the fragile skin. A single drop of blood spread through her mouth, causing a bit of a nauseous feeling.

"It will be okay. Do you want me to go talk to Santana?" Mike asked, pulling back. His thumb ran across Brittany's cheek, wiping away the few tears that _had_ spilled. "I can beat the crap out of her, if you want me to."

"That's not really necessary, Mike," Brittany whispered. "You know how much I am against violence. I'd rather you not use it for my sake."

"Okay... Do you still want me to talk to her?" Mike frowned. It made his face look very serious. Brittany had always considered him handsome. She had tried to date him when they first met, but that didn't work out because he had feelings for someone else already. And then they both joined glee club and Mike confessed he liked Tina, which made Brittany melt even though they had never said one word to each other. From that moment on she had made it her personal mission to bring them together, and since they were now dancing together it seemed like she made a lot of progress. Besides, Mike was exceptionally good-looking, plus his body was super hot. She had seen it once when they were dancing and he opened his shirt because he was warm.

"No, I think it'd be better if we figured things out together. I think... I think I might be in – " Brittany started saying, but they were interrupted by a loud bang, followed by shouting. In Spanish.

Brittany's head shot up, recognizing the voice. There was another bang, and she stood up from her chair rapidly. "That's Santana."

Mike's expression hardened and he followed Brittany to the hallway. There were only three people standing in the corridor, and one of them was Santana. She was being pushed up against the lockers by the two other girls – Cheerios – and there was blood on her face. Brittany froze, only being able to stare at the three girls. Her eyes were wide, focused on Santana's face. There was a mixed expression on it – both anger and fear. She had never shown this much emotion at once before, and it was kind of a shock.

One of the Cheerios swung her fist at Santana, hitting her hard on the cheek. Santana made a sound that sounded like screaming and crying at the same time, punching the girl hard in the stomach. She instantly collapsed to the floor, dry-heaving.

The other one hissed something in Santana's ear, pulling her dark hair. A few hairs came loose and the girl threw them away in disgust.

And suddenly Brittany felt herself move. She didn't really think much while acting. There was only one thing on her mind – Santana. She had to help the girl. This didn't seem like a fair fight.

At the same time Mike ran towards the girls, grabbing the still-standing Cheerio by the wrist. He pulled her away from the others, talking to her at a rapid pace. Brittany didn't understand him.

Her focus was on Santana, and the girl was still bleeding. There was a cut on her upper arm and her cheek seemed pretty bruised. Grabbing Santana's wrists, Brittany pulled the girl into the choir room. She didn't listen to her loud objections, only to slow down when she saw the Latina limp a bit. Pushing her into the room she closed the door behind her, and then walked up to Santana. "What the hell?"

"They found out," Santana breathed, her face twitching in pain. "They know!"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hi guys! I'm really sorry for not updating yesterday. I just didn't really feel like writing... But today it's kind of a long chapter (I think) so I hope that makes up for it! I loved the reviews and all, and it ****_really_**** motivates me to know you guys love to read DWTD... Well, I think that's it. Please do not hesitate to leave your opinion, even if you don't like something. There's always room for change, isn't there? So thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

There is a reason people rather lie than tell the truth. Sometimes it's better to lie, because the truth doesn't matter. And when it does there is always a reason why it's better to be hidden away. Stuffed in a box somewhere to never look at it again. But you always do. Because a part of you wants to just tell everybody what's going through your head all the time, and the only thing stopping you is yourself. That's why Brittany always tried to be honest with people.

Brittany looked at the girl in front of her. She was breathing heavily and clenching her hands to fists. Tears were threatening to spill. She blinked a few times, and then looked up. In a whisper so softly that Brittany almost couldn't understand her she said, "Everyone's going to know now."

"Probably," Brittany blurted out, grabbing Santana's hands. "But I'll make sure no one touches you again. That's a promise."

Santana looked up at her, and Brittany could see by the look in the girl's eyes she was about to break down. Even more than she already had. So she didn't say another word, quietly pulling the Latina into a tight hug. They sat like that for a while. Brittany hugging Santana, who was just sitting there. She didn't pull away, but she didn't hug back either. It was progress, since less than a few hours ago she wouldn't even so much as look at Brittany.

"It will be okay," she mumbled in Santana's ear, over and over again. "It will be okay."

After a while Santana moved, and Brittany had to let her go. She felt bad for still wanting to hold the other girl, but she knew it wouldn't be the best idea she'd ever had. So she opened her arms, leaning back a bit. Her eyes locked with the dark brown ones that belonged to Santana's, and she felt her heart flutter.

"You don't know that," the Latina whispered. "You don't know what they're going to do, or think, or say..."

"I know because we have Kurt. I don't think there could be anyone more gay than him, and he's doing just fine." Brittany shrugged and tried to force a smile, but the tears in Santana's eyes made her unable to.

Santana's eyes widened at the word 'gay', but then she relaxed a bit. Just one tiny little bit. "Brittany, I appreciate you saying all this but... I do not have a very good _history_ with... people."

"I know." The blonde played with her hair anxiously, nervously waiting for Santana's answer.

"You... _know_?"

"I... Yes, I do."

"_How_?" Santana pressed her eyes with the ball of her hands, wiping away her tears. Her expression had changed a bit since a few minutes ago. She seemed more hurt than angry. Scared, even.

Brittany hesitated a bit while answering. "Someone told me."

"That's very vague, Brittany. Who else knows?" Santana's eyes narrowed only slightly, but it was enough to give back a bit of attitude the blonde was used to. And honestly, she felt more comfortable around that Santana than the one hiding sobs and tears.

"Does it really matter?" Brittany asked. She waved her hands in the air, adding, "Like you said. Tomorrow everyone will know. Who cares about who knew first?" She forced a laugh.

Santana didn't laugh. "I care. Look, Brittany. I don't understand you to understand this. Any of it. But –"

"No. Santana, I _do_ understand. I just don't want to get anyone into trouble, okay?" She sighed, biting her lip. Hopefully she hadn't said anything to piss Santana off again.

But the Latina just pushed a few hairs out of her face, nodding. "You're too sweet."

It caused Brittany to feel all tingly, but she tried not to show it. Now wouldn't be the best moment to act like she was in love.

Neither of them said anything for a while. They just sat there, staring at each other. Brittany felt the corners of her mouth fight to curl up into a smile, but she didn't know if it was appropriate or not. So she clenched her jaw, but never looking away from the Latina's eyes.

After what felt like hours the door of the choir room opened, and Mike came in. He wore a slightly concerned look on his face, only looking at Brittany while talking towards the girls. Then he grabbed a chair and sat next to the blonde. Looking at Santana for the first time he frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Do I _look_ okay?" she replied instantly, cocking an eyebrow. Apparently it hurt, because she flinched. Brittany's hand shot forward, grabbing hers. She didn't pull away. Her face softened, sighing. She looked at Mike for a second, and then at Brittany. And back at Mike. And then she breathed out sharply. "You were the one that told Brittany, weren't you?"

"I..." Mike started saying, but then he shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah. I was."

"Why didn't you just out me? You're a jock... Isn't that what jocks do? Act heartless towards everyone that's 'different' in their eyes?" Santana said. She spoke quickly, almost too quick to properly understand what she was saying.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you, but that doesn't give you the right to judge about us like we're one person. Do you hear me saying all lesbians are the same? You're all different people and no one is alike to one another," Mike simply said.

Santana cringed at the word 'lesbian', but she didn't say a word. She just listened, and after Mike finished speaking she bit her lip. Shrugging she shook her head. "You're right. Thanks for... not saying anything, I think. Except to Brittany." And then a little smile tugged her lips. "And here I was thinking you just had incredible gaydar."

Brittany laughed a bit. Santana's sudden mood swing caught her off guard, but at the same time she didn't really care about it. The girl seemed kind of okay now, and that was all that mattered.

Mike didn't seem to think the same thing. He leaned forward a bit, extending his hand a bit. It hovered in the air, very closely to Santana's bruised cheek. "Do you mind?"

She just shook her head.

When his fingers touched her face Brittany felt a pang of jealousy. She knew she was being unfair, but she really didn't like her best friend touching Santana's face like that. There was nothing going on, but still. Maybe she should start learning about first aid, so next time she could be the one touching Santana.

The girl seemed to notice her discomfort, as she softly squeezed Brittany's hand, sending jolts of electricity up her arm. The blonde almost forgot about Mike, until Santana visibly winced. "Ow," she muttered under her breath. She pulled her hand back to cover the cut on her arm Mike had just looked at. The boy got up, extending his hand. "I think it's best to take you to the nurse. My knowledge about first aid isn't exactly that great."

Santana was about to protest when she caught Brittany's glare, and then she just sighed. "Okay. Help me up."

Both Mike and Brittany shot forward, gently pulling the Latina up. Her left cheek was already visibly bruised, and a bit of dried blood covered her temple. When they walked up to the nurses office Brittany also noticed Santana limping a bit, and one of her hands pressed hard down on her left side. Apparently the Cheerios had beaten her up a bit even before they had come to help.

The nurse looked suspicious when they came in, basically carrying Santana, but she didn't ask. She just pointed at the examination table. "Where does it hurt?"

"My... face, obviously. And my arm... my ribcage... and my thigh," Santana mumbled, avoiding everyone's gaze. The nurse seemed to sense her discomfort, and turned to Mike and Brittany, who were standing there a bit awkwardly. "Can you both please leave? You can wait for your friend outside."

So they left.

While they sat outside the bell rang, and Brittany knew she had to get to class. Mike had the same class as her, so they should both be going. But neither of them moved. Brittany just let herself fall against Mike's body, and he wrapped his arms around hers.

"What did you say to them?" Brittany suddenly asked, looking up at Mike. "The cheerleaders, I mean."

"That they got what they deserved. They were being completely unfair. First of all, you shouldn't want to punch someone for being gay, and second of all, they were the ones that started the fight. Santana was just defending herself... a bit harsh probably, but she just wanted them off her back." Mike shrugged. "I have no idea if I made things worse, but you shouldn't treat people like that."

Brittany shook her head. "I guess there's only one way to find out." She frowned. "Do you think she'll be okay? I don't want her to transfer schools again."

"McKinley is not like her previous school. We have Kurt too, and there hasn't really happened anything since Karofsky transferred. Plus she has you," Mike said. He studied her face, smirking. "You're not going to leave her side anymore, are you?"

Brittany bit her lip. She had almost forgotten how well Mike could read her mind sometimes, especially when she was trying to hide her thoughts. "I... no. Not unless she _really_ wants me to. I'm almost on top of the pyramid, I have power over those Cheerios. She's basically at the bottom. Literally."

"She is? How? Has Coach Sylvester seen the girl? I bet she's got moves too," Mike exclaimed, laughing. Brittany raised her eyebrows at him, hitting him in the arm. "Back off. You've got Tina already."

Mike's face turned serious. "Are you jealous?"

"What? No! Of course not! I'm just saying that you've got Tina and there's no need for you to –"

But Mike's laughing interrupted her. "You're so jealous. Your face is turning green already."

"It's not!" Brittany exclaimed, shooting up. She pulled out her phone and studied her face in the reflecting screen. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not green at all."

"Figuratively speaking. It's a saying. Jealousy turns you green." Mike winked. "Don't worry. You look just fine."

"I hate you." Brittany relaxed and leaned back in her chair. She was starting to wonder about Santana again. The girl had been in the nursing office for a while now, and she had no idea what was going on. Just when she was about to get up and ask, the door opened. Santana stepped outside, looking a bit embarrassed. It wasn't all that weird, because she had a bandage around her hurt arm, and some sort of band-aid on her temple. She raised her hand, shooting her friends a warning glare. "Do. Not. Say. A. Word."

Brittany just smirked. "You look great." She had the sudden urge to kiss the Latina, but she figured it wouldn't be the best thing to do right now. Licking her lips she got up. "What did the nurse say?"

"She thinks I have a bruised rib and cheekbone. I'm not allowed to cheer or do anything that involves sudden movement... Including dancing. I'm sorry, Britt." She looked a bit shy when she said that. Apologizing was probably not something she did do very often.

"Oh." Brittany nodded understanding, unable to suppress a slightly sad expression to break through. "That's okay. You'll be healed soon, won't you?"

"I hope so, yes. Um, she also said I should go home. But I can't drive like this," Santana hinted. She glanced at Brittany, looking hopeful. The blonde lightened up a bit at this, and she smiled. "I'll drive you. School's not important anyway." Turning around swiftly she looked at Mike, who was still sitting there, watching them. "You go to class. Tell them I'm... I don't care. Just tell them something."

Grabbing Santana's hand she guided her through the hallways of McKinley. She was surprised when Santana didn't pull away but held onto her hand tightly. It was a pleasant surprise.

"I would offer to carry you, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea with your rib and all," she joked, looking over at Santana. The Latina smiled a bit, but her face was twitched in pain. It was obvious the cheerleaders harmed her quite a bit, and it made Brittany angry in a way she had never experienced before. Not that she suddenly felt violent or anything, she just wanted those girls to know how amazing Santana truly was. She was more than her sexuality. She was more than her – hot – appearance. She was her great personality, her sweet family, her beautiful voice.

The drive to Santana's home was silent, but Brittany didn't care because Santana still held her hand. It made it slightly harder to concentrate on the road, but she loved taking the risk.

When she pulled over she looked at Santana. "Are you okay?"

Santana shrugged. "I will be. You should go back to school. I don't want you to get in trouble because of me."

"I don't care," Brittany instantly replied. "I could stay, if you want to. If you want to talk or something... Or do nothing. Whatever, I don't care."

"Brittany..." Santana mumbled. She locked her eyes with blue, and Brittany felt faint. Her eyes lowered to Santana's full lips, and she wanted to kiss her – more than anything. But she didn't want to push Santana either.

And then, completely unexpected, Santana was the one to lean in. Her lips touched Brittany's for a split second, before she pulled back. "Thank you. You're a great friend. But you should really go back to school. I-I'm probably just going to fall asleep anyway."

"I don't care," Brittany repeated, still high on the taste of Santana's lips. She wanted more.

"Well, I do. I'm going to be really boring." Santana opened the door of Brittany's car and started getting out. But before she was fully out she turned around again, pressing her lips against Brittany's again. A little longer this time, and it was enough for Brittany to almost lose control. She had to remind herself she was in a car, and Santana was injured. She couldn't go all crazy now. That would be too weird. But when Santana pulled back held her eyes closed, hoping for more. And it was only when she heard the door shut again she opened them. It wasn't entirely what she wanted, but it was still two more kisses than she expected. And tomorrow was another day, right?


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Yay, thanks for the reviews and stuff again! Makes me happy! I don't have much to comment on this time, so I just want to tell you I appreciate every single one of you guys and every ****_view_**** on this story makes my day. So thank you. Enjoy chapter 12!**

* * *

Without Santana to distract her the day went by slowly. Brittany didn't know how she ever survived without the Latina – everyday. For eighteen years.

After cheer practice she waited for Quinn, who was talking to about everyone in the girl's locker room. It seemed to take hours before she finally came out, and Brittany pushed herself off the wall she'd been leaning against. She tapped her nails against the screen of her phone. She had been holding it because she had been texting Santana, but she hadn't answered yet. Brittany didn't think too much of it. Like the Latina had said, she was probably asleep. She had once heard sleep encouraged recovery, so it was probably a good thing she didn't answer.

Walking to her car she heard Quinn talk to her, but she didn't actually listen. It was only when the girl hit her in the arm she looked up. "What?"

"Are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Quinn asked, eyebrows cocked. "I thought you would want to know what I was telling you, considering it was about Santana."

"Santana? What about her?" Brittany said, suddenly alarmed. Why would Quinn be talking about Santana? As far as she was concerned the girl wasn't really her biggest fan.

"You haven't heard it yet?"

Brittany shook her head. Heard what? Did those girls tell everyone already? She thought they'd be just as beaten up as Santana, considering she had done a pretty good job defending herself. Or at least, it seemed like it. That one girl had still been on the floor dry-heaving when she pushed Santana into the choir room.

"She got into a fight today during lunch. I heard one of those girls had to be taken to the hospital because she hit them so hard," Quinn said softly, looking around as if someone would be eavesdropping.

Brittany's eyes widened. She knew it was bad, but she hadn't thought the girl would have to go to the hospital for what Santana did. Suddenly she felt concerned about how Santana would be taking the news. Then she shook her head. She shouldn't be acting so stupid. Those girls were about to beat Santana up – she had the right to defend herself. It got out of hand, so what? If she hadn't fought back maybe she would've been the one in the hospital now. "Are you sure about that?"

"Pretty sure. Everyone's been talking about it all day. How come you didn't hear any of it?"

"I don't know. Do you know _why_ they had been fighting?" Brittany asked. From experience she knew teenagers could change a story into whatever they wanted to tell. And when Quinn answered her question she knew that was exactly what happened. "From what I've heard Santana couldn't take it they were getting praised by Coach last week while she wasn't. She would've been so jealous she lost control and then she just attacked them when she encountered them in the hallway."

So Santana wasn't outed – yet. Well, at least it was _something_. But Brittany's blood started boiling hearing all those lies. She felt a slight aversion towards Quinn, even though she knew it wasn't fair. The girl was just telling what she'd heard, and it the whole thing had nothing to do with her. Brittany had never been the best at suppressing her feelings, though, so when they got in the car she couldn't keep her mouth shut anymore. "That's not what happened. At all. Whoever made that story up is a big ass liar."

Quinn looked at her friend in surprise, and with a spark of curiosity in her eyes. "And how would _you _know? You've been zoned out for the past week or so. I doubt you even know –"

"Because I was there," Brittany breathed, interrupting Quinn's ranting. "I've seen it all, and I can tell you that's not what happened."

Quinn froze. "You-you were there?"

"Yeah." Brittany nodded, staring out of the front window. "Right there. Just a few meters away. I could basically touch them. You know," she extended her hand. "Just like that."

"Yes, Brittany. I know what you mean. But... how were you there?" Quinn shook her head in disbelief, leaning back in the car seat. "And if that's not what happened... Who made the story up? And more important, what _did _happen?"

"I'm... not so sure I should be the one telling you that." Brittany turned the key, starting the engine. She was done with this conversation. What if she blurted out something Santana didn't want Quinn to know? Hell, there were probably a lot of things Santana didn't want anyone to know. Brittany wouldn't know what she could and couldn't say.

"Come on, Brittany. You can't just drop a bomb like that and then expect me not wanting to know more about it," Quinn said. "You're not _that_ s... Never mind. Just tell me... Please? That's what best friends are for, right?"

Brittany bit her lip, unsure what to do. She didn't want to out Santana, but she also didn't want Quinn to be mad at her. She was still her best friend... "Okay. I'll tell you. They knew something about Santana and used that as an excuse to pick up a fight with her. Also, I'm pretty sure if that girl hadn't ended up in the hospital, Santana would have."

For a while it was silent in the car. While Brittany drove to Quinn's house she often shot a glare in the girl's direction, but she couldn't read her face. That was the problem with Quinn. You never knew what she was thinking. For an open book as Brittany it was really frustrating sometimes.

Finally, when they pulled over in front of Quinn's house, she opened her mouth. "What is that thing they knew?"

Brittany looked the girl straight in the eyes. All she saw was curiosity, and not one tiny bit of concern. So she shrugged. "I don't know. She wouldn't tell me." And for the first time ever Quinn didn't notice she was lying. Maybe it was the disappointment, or it was just because Brittany had learned to lie. Or maybe she hadn't learned to lie, but for Santana's sake she would.

Not a minute later Quinn was out of the car, stepping on the front porch of her house. Brittany looked at her friend disappearing in the big house, wondering if the girl was really the good friend she had always thought she was.

* * *

Not much later Brittany found herself standing in front Santana's house. She'd been here quite a few times already now, and she still got this _feeling_. Like she belonged. It was weird, but it felt good. She wasn't even sure why was here. To check up on Santana, probably. The girl hadn't texted back yet and she started to worry a bit. She always had her phone next to her bed, and every incoming call or message woke her up. But maybe Santana wasn't like that. Nevertheless she wanted to see the girl. Like, right now.

She opened the car door and walked to the front door. After a moment of hesitation she rang the bell, anxiously waiting for the door to open. As she expected it was Maribel who answered the door. She didn't look surprised to see Brittany standing there. Not saying anything she looked at the girl, obviously waiting for an explanation.

"Hello Mrs. Lopez," she mumbled. "I'm here to see Santana – but I think you knew that already. Is she... is she okay?"

Maribel smiled warmly at the blonde, inviting her inside. She guided her to the kitchen, and pointed at one of the stools. As they both sat down she nodded slowly. "She will be. Believe me, Santana's tough. She'll easily pull through it."

"She looked really hurt, though," Brittany blurted out. She couldn't help but speak out her concern. "I'm really worried about her."

"I believe you are," the Latina said. "I can't deny she's pretty bruised, but I think it's more the shock and everything that comes with it than actual, physical pain."

Brittany chewed her lip, letting Maribel's words sink in. The shock? Of being outed? Or of being beaten in the hallways of her high school – the place she was supposed to feel somewhat safe? She didn't dare to ask it, though. So she just nodded. "Can I see her?"

"You can try, but I think she's still asleep." Maribel shrugged, gesturing at the kitchen door. "But be quiet. She needs to rest, and all."

Brittany made a thumbs-up to the woman, before leaving her alone in the kitchen. She quickly walked up the stairs. It wasn't hard to find Santana's bedroom this time, and she slipped in quietly. Like Maribel had predicted was her daughter still asleep. This time she didn't look as peaceful as the first time Brittany had walked into her bedroom, and she was still fully dressed in her Cheerios uniform. The zipper was all the way down, though, and a bandage was clearly visible. Probably for the bruised rib, Brittany thought.

Looking around the room she noticed the curtain being open – and a small beam of sunlight fell on the Latina's face. Apparently she had been sweating or something, because the light reflected and made it look like she was glittering. Like those vampires in Twilight. Brittany smirked at the comparison. Santana was everything but a vampire. Her skin was way too tan and soft for that anyway. Tip-toeing across the room she closed the curtain. Sleeping with light on your face was one of the worst things ever, and she didn't want anyone to go through that terror.

After that she didn't really know what to do anymore, but she didn't want to leave. She liked being with Santana. Hell, she liked it more than she probably should. She liked looking at Santana, especially when she was asleep. Yes, her eyes were beautiful, but when she was sleeping she somehow looked... peaceful. She always had this concerned look in her eyes, and when she was asleep it seemed like all her worries just went away. Aside from the way she was anxiously clenching her hands, anyway. Brittany wondered why she did that. She always thought when people were asleep they were completely relaxed. But then again, Santana wasn't like most people. She was extraordinary.

Not able to contain herself any longer Brittany slowly walked towards the bed. She kneeled down in front of Santana, smiling to herself. The girl's lips were slightly parted and every once in a while she made a soft noise that could mean anything. It was cute. _So_ cute.

She gently pushed a few hairs out of Santana's face, and her fingertips touched her damp skin only half a second. It was enough for the Latina to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked slightly confused for a while. "Britt-Britt? What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you," Brittany whispered back, trying to ignore the butterflies that fluttered around in her stomach at her new nickname. "How are you feeling?"

Santana groaned, trying to push herself up. She flinched when she leaned on her hurt arm, but recovered from it before Brittany could really do anything. After a lot of grumbling and suppressed groans she finally sat up straight, patting the free space next to her. Brittany got the hint and climbed upon the bed. As soon as she sat down Santana's good hand grabbed hers, and she clenched to it like it was her life. Brittany meant to ask what was wrong, but before she could say anything Santana leaned her right cheek – the non-bruised one – on her shoulder and she could smell Santana's shampoo. And she forgot everything she wanted to say.

"Thank you for swinging by, Britt," Santana mumbled, already falling asleep again. Maybe she was on meds that made her sleepy, or maybe she was just really tired from everything that had happened. Whatever the case, she fell asleep on Brittany shoulder. When her grip on her hand loosened Brittany knew she was asleep again, and the realization of Santana being comfortable enough to fall asleep next to her made her fall even more. Because she was falling in love with Santana – hard. She just... loved everything about the girl. Even the snarky comments. In a strange way it was really cute.

And Brittany knew she would be able to sit here all day, just gently stroking Santana's soft hair while the girl was sleeping on her shoulder.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Midnight update! Or well, in Europe it's midnight. Not that many reviews on Chapter 12 :( but that's okay. As long as I know some of you like to read it I will keep updating :) Enjoy chapter 13!**

* * *

By Friday Brittany still hadn't heard anything about Santana being gay at school. Everyone seemed to know about the fight, but no one knew why they had been fighting. Most of them probably still believed the story about Santana being jealous and thus beating someone up. Fact was neither of them had returned to school yet.

Santana had paid the hospital a visit when things hadn't gotten better on Wednesday, and it turned out the school nurse had been right. Apparently the Cheerios had thrown Santana into the lockers before Brittany and Mike came out of the choir room, and that caused a badly bruised rib. When the adrenaline wore off it only started hurting more, so they put her on meds, which made her sleepy.

Brittany had made it a habit to visit Santana after cheer practice, even though the girl was mostly sleeping. She wondered how someone could sleep that much. She herself had slept a whole day once, and after that she had been hyperactive. But Santana didn't seem to do anything else anymore. Except maybe for watching TV every once in a while. If it wasn't for the meds Brittany would have been seriously worried. But Santana ensured her it was okay, and she trusted her.

The blonde looked up from her homework when she heard Santana making weird sounds in her sleep. Beats of sweat were formed on the Latina's forehead and her face was twitching in a way that couldn't possibly be comfortable. Was she having a nightmare? It sure seemed like it.

Brittany dropped her pencil, quickly walking over to Santana's bed. She nudged her shoulder softly, and the Latina's eyes flew open. She shot right up, grabbing her ribcage and falling back onto the bed immediately. She mumbled something in Spanish that Brittany didn't understand, and then looked at the blonde. "Wow."

"Nightmare?" Brittany said, raising one eyebrow. Santana had been having those a lot lately, it seemed.

"I think so, yeah," Santana mumbled, frowning. "I-I don't really remember."

Brittany shifted. She swallowed, looking at the Latina. Even after all that sleeping she looked exhausted. Not physically, but emotionally. There was this weary look in her eyes, and she seemed absentminded. Even though she had known the girl for what, less than three weeks now, she had become pretty good at reading her face. She had always been good at reading people, but Santana was different. More reserved and that made it harder to know what she was thinking. Brittany extended her hand, and when Santana grabbed her fingers she looked up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah?" the Latina answered, like she was asking a question. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you have a lot going on these days," Brittany said. "And you don't talk about it or anything..."

"There's nothing to talk about." Santana closed her eyes. "I'm going back to sleep." She turned around, pulling her hand out of Brittany's. "Don't you have homework to do?"

Brittany closed her eyes and sighed. She stared at Santana's hair a few seconds, before touching the girl's shoulder. "Santana..."

The Latina rolled back. "No. Do not _Santana_ me. I don't want to talk about _anything_. I just want to _sleep_. So just leave me alone, okay?" She turned around again, facing her wall. Brittany's hand hovered above her shoulder, not sure if she should press down again. And then Santana moved as if she was letting out a sob.

Brittany's eyes widened and she wasn't sure what to do next. She bit her lip, before climbing up onto Santana's bed. Wrapping her arms around the girl she pulled her close to her own body, pressing her face against Santana's shoulder. The Latina went from laying completely still to sobbing within a second, and once she had let go of her bitchy defenses she couldn't stop. Turning around she faced Brittany, pressing her face to the crook of her neck. The blonde stroke her hair, attempting to comfort the girl.

"I-I... B-Britt..." Santana sobbed, unable to make full sentences. "I-I'm sorry. I d-don't mean t-to push you o-out all t-the time."

"I know," Brittany breathed, feeling Santana's tears drip onto her skin. It broke her heart. She couldn't really handle seeing _anyone_ cry, but not it was Santana, which was even worse. She wished she could take the Latina's pain away, but she knew she couldn't. Which only hurt her more. "It's okay."

"N-no. It's _not_ okay." Santana moved, looking Brittany straight in the eye. Her eyes were red from the tears, and her face was puffed from the crying. It was completely cute. "I just n-never had someone s-stick around long e-enough for me to start c-caring about t-them."

Santana cared about her. Brittany had to suppress a smile. It would be weird if she was smiling while Santana was in her arms, crying. So she just held her close. "I care about you too."

Santana blinked, and a tear dripped down her cheek. She wiped it away sternly. She sighed and her warm breath gave Brittany goose bumps. She felt a little embarrassed by it, but Santana didn't seem to notice. She just bit her lip, and a small frown covered her brow. "I'm a mess."

"You are," Brittany mumbled, pushing a hair out of her face. "But I still like you."

"Hm." Santana closed her eyes, pressing her lips to the skin of Brittany's neck. It alerted every cell in her body, but before she could do anything Santana smiled against her skin, pulling back. "But seriously, I'm about to fall asleep again. Can you-can you hold me like this? I don't want to have any more nightmares."

"S-sure." Brittany tightened her grip on the Latina, looking down at her. Even when she had been crying for a good five minutes, she was still beautiful. Beautiful. Stunning. Hot. All at the same time. And she was laying in _her_ arms. It made Brittany feel like the luckiest girl alive.

* * *

That night was their first sleepover. Part of the reason was Santana being afraid of having nightmares again, but Brittany didn't mind. No, it was the opposite. She loved every second of it, even though Santana was asleep most of the time. She just loved watching the girl sleep. It made her look so innocent and for the first time ever she didn't clutch to something like it was her life. She seemed relaxed.

The next day when she woke up Brittany felt a little bit disoriented. At first she had no idea where she was, but then her memories started coming back and she remembered. After a while she noticed her arms were empty, and so was the bed. She shot straight up, looking around for Santana, only to come to the conclusion the girl wasn't in the room. So where was she?

Brittany stepped out of bed, realizing she wasn't wearing her Cheerios uniform anymore, but a pair of sweatpants and a black T-shirt. She didn't remember putting them on, so the only explanation was Santana had done that for her. A weird feeling spread through her body, causing every cell to start tingling. Then she realized Santana had seen her underwear, and she suddenly felt awkward. Not that she didn't _want_ Santana to see her underwear... It was just a crazy thought. And she hated herself for the throbbing it caused between her thighs.

Pushing the feeling out she opened the door to the hallway. She quickly grabbed her phone to check the time before walking down the stairs. It was almost 10am. Dance class would start in an hour. Brittany frowned. She hadn't really thought about their dance, but it was obvious Santana wouldn't be recovered in time to still participate in the competition. Should they withdraw? Brittany really didn't want to, but it seemed like the only option left. There was no one else left to dance with, and she couldn't dance on her own. Miss Corcoran wouldn't probably allow that, since the competition was set up for them to learn to dance with a partner. She sighed. No dance competition meant no Britney Spears concert. Her shoulders slumped a bit at the realization and she suddenly felt like crying. The only that kept her from doing so was the fact that she was in Santana's house and it would be weird if she just started crying. Santana would probably think she was weird for crying about such things too.

Walking into the kitchen Brittany half expected Santana to be there, but the room was empty. So was the dining room. And so was the living room. That meant Santana was still upstairs.

Brittany went back up, looking in every room with an open door. But the Latina was nowhere to be found. And she wasn't back in her bedroom either. Confused, Brittany checked all doors again. The only room she hadn't checked was the bathroom... Oh. Of course. Brittany could slap herself for being so stupid. Santana was probably just showering or anything. Now she thought about it she could actually hear the water running. She had just almost panicked for nothing.

She was about to turn around when suddenly a voice started singing. At first she didn't recognize it, but after a few lines she realized it was Santana. She smiled a little at how ordinary it seemed, to be singing in the shower. Brittany sometimes sung, but Demi would tell her to shut up and then she'd stop. The only times she really sung was in glee club, and most of the times she loved it. She hadn't even known Santana could sing.

_"This is me praying that this was the very first page, not where the storyline ends. My thoughts will echo your name, until I see you again. These are the words I held back, as I was leaving too soon. I was enchanted to meet you."_

It was beautiful. Brittany sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door, just listening to Santana's voice. The Latina should really join glee club, she thought. It would be a perfect addition, and a nice change for once. Brittany got kind of tired of Rachel always being in the lead. She thought Santana was just as good. She could probably get all the solos if she wanted.

_"Please don't be in love with someone else, please don't have somebody waiting on you. Please don't be in love with someone else, please don't have somebody waiting on you,"_ Santana continued, before stopping as abruptly as she had begun. The water was being turned off and only a few minutes later Santana stepped out of the bathroom. She was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and –shirt, holding a towel in her hands. She seemed kind of shocked when she saw Brittany sitting there, as she frowned and almost jumped. "Have you... have you been sitting there for long?"

"Just long enough to hear you sing," Brittany answered, a smile tugging her lips. "You never told me you could sing!"

"I can sing," Santana winked, running a hand through her damp hair. "But I probably shouldn't have. Who knew bruised ribs could be so annoying."

Brittany got up, extending her arms. "Let me help you."

"_No_, Brittany. I mean, I'm fine," Santana snapped, turning around swiftly. Both girls walked into Santana's room, and as the Latina sat down on her bed she sighed. "Sorry. You mean well. I'm just... _so_ tired of all of this." She gestured at her upper body, falling backwards onto the bed. When she hit the bed she groaned, folding her arms around her middle. "See? This is just _so_ annoying."

Brittany smirked, sitting down on Santana's office chair. "I see." She pulled her legs up, unlocking her phone. Opening a new text messages to Miss Corcoran she eyed the girl. "Santana...?"

"Yes?"

"Do we have to withdraw from the competition?" Brittany asked, against her will. She was scared for what Santana's answer would be.

The girl waited a minute before she answered. Pushing herself up she looked at Brittany. "I-I think so, yeah. There's no way I will be able to dance within like the next month... I'm so sorry, Britt."

"It's okay," Brittany mumbled, avoiding Santana's gaze. She was sure that if their eyes would lock she would burst into tears. She couldn't explain why, but going to that Britney Spears concert was really important to her. It was probably just silly. "It's not your fault."

She tapped the screen of her phone and typed a quick message to Miss Corcoran to tell her they weren't going to class today. Or anytime soon. There wasn't really that much she could do without Santana anymore, so it would be a waste of time _and_ money to attend dance lessons anyway.

After a few minutes of silence Brittany looked up from her phone and looked at Santana. "So... What are we going to do today?"

* * *

**A/N #2: By the way, the song used in this chapter is Enchanted by Taylor Swift. I thought I'd do a Taylor song in chapter ****_13_****. If anyone gets that. Would be really cool if someone did. ;)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm sorry for not updating yesterday! Today I didn't really feel well, but I really wanted to update again, so the ending might be a bit weird. If so, I'm really sorry. Also, I know I said I didn't want either Santana or Brittany to get physically hurt because the story is about dancing, but I have changed the plot a bit, and it's all worked out again. And lastly, I really liked so many of you guys getting the Taylor Swift/13 thing! Made me smile. Leave your comments on Chapter 14, please! I love to hear from you guys. **

* * *

Brittany stayed at Santana's place until Sunday night. It was almost midnight when she got home, and when she got up seven hours later she was exhausted. During the weekend she had barely gotten enough sleep, because she liked watching Santana sleep. The soft noises she made, and the way she was only completely relaxed in Brittany's arms hypnotized her, and before she knew it was dawn. And seven hours was not nearly enough to catch up on the lost sleep.

The next morning she left the house early to go and pick up Santana for school. She was recovered enough to walk around the house again, and since there wasn't much walking required at school her parents thought it would be good to go back to school. Brittany had seen the unspoken panic in the Latina's eyes, but she hadn't said anything about it. Santana probably didn't want to talk about it anyway. Not that there was anything she had to worry about – Brittany wouldn't leave her side one second. She had it all planned out. No one would probably dare to say or do anything if the best friend of the head cheerleader would be walking next to the Latina. Right?

After a few minutes of waiting Santana stepped into the car. She was wearing her Cheerios uniform, and Brittany could see the bandage underneath it. Part of her wanted to point it out, but Santana probably knew it already. The uniforms were pretty tight, after all.

Santana's brown eyes met Brittany's blue ones and they narrowed a bit. "You look tired."

"I _am_ tired," Brittany answered honestly. "Nothing I can't handle, though. I'll just drink a lot of coffee."

"Are you sure? We can skip school, if you want to." A giggly look covered Santana's face, and she shrugged. "I mean... it's just school, right?"

"We're not skipping school," Brittany answered. "I'll just pull through it. Don't worry." She started the engine and started driving. "We have to pick up Quinn first, by the way."

"Quinn Fabray? The head cheerleader?" Santana's eyes widened in shock. For some reason she and Quinn didn't really seem to get along that well, but that couldn't really bother Brittany. She liked both girls, and they didn't have to talk to each other if they didn't want to. Hell, they could be ignoring each other and it would be okay. As long as she liked them they would drive with her. She would not make one of them drive by their own just because the other didn't like them.

"Yeah, she's my best friend. I always pick her up before school." Brittany shrugged, taking a left turn. After a while they reached Quinn's house, and the blonde was already sitting on the front porch, waiting for them. She tapped her empty wrist, raising her eyebrows when she saw the car, quickly getting up. Her eyebrows raised even higher when she saw Santana sitting in the front seat, but she didn't care to comment. Stepping into the car she leaned forward. "You're late, Brittany."

"I know," Brittany said, shooting the blonde an apologetic look. "I had to pick up Santana and then it was suddenly late. I'll be here earlier tomorrow."

"Okay," Quinn answered, completely ignoring Santana. She leaned backwards again, and pulled out her phone. Brittany looked at her in the rearview mirror, shaking her head lightly. She hadn't expected Quinn and Santana to become best friends all of the sudden, but this was just really awkward.

Since Lima wasn't exactly that big of a city it only took a few minutes to get from Quinn's house to McKinley High. Once they got there Quinn got out of the car before it was even fully parked, without saying a word. It annoyed Brittany, but there wasn't really much she could do about it. "I'm sorry about Quinn. She's not normally like this."

"She is to me, but that's okay. I know she doesn't like me, and the feeling is mutual." Santana waved her hand in the air, unbuckling her seatbelt. She pushed the car door open with her good arm, but when she tried to get out she fell back into the car seat. "Fuck."

The swear word grabbed Brittany's attention and she looked at the Latina in concern. "Are you okay?"

Santana's jaw clenched and she nodded. "Yeah. I'm great. Let's go, I don't want to be late." She basically threw herself out of the car, swinging her backpack over her shoulder. Brittany could see the pain in Santana's eyes, but decided not to say anything. She didn't want to push Santana back into that place she had still been only a week ago. Not now she finally got her out of there.

* * *

After first period ended they had to part ways, unfortunately. Brittany had history up next, and Santana biology. So much for the blonde's plan to attach herself to Santana's hip. Luckily she wasn't alone in that class – Mike had biology too. He would make sure nothing happened.

Although, Brittany started to wonder if anything was even going to happen. She hadn't heard about the fight in days and everything seemed to have calmed down a bit. And she certainly hadn't heard anything about Santana being gay. It was a pleasant surprise. Maybe people weren't really as bad as some others thought. Santana had turned out not to be a bad person as well.

Brittany sat next to Rachel Berry in history. The tiny brunette was actually kind of nice, but Brittany couldn't stand to hang around her for longer than one hour max. Something about the way she always rambled about boring things like musicals and Tony awards made her head go fuzzy. She did consider Rachel as a friend, but not a very good one. Just someone she would sit with if there was no one else. And seriously, her clothing lacked every sense of style. Before she met the girl, Brittany had never thought she'd ever see someone wear reindeers on their sweaters in March.

Right now Rachel was talking about some musical actress Brittany had never even heard of. At first she pretended to listen, but after a while she found out Rachel would still talk even if the blonde kept her eyes on the book in front of her anyway, so she just kind of gave up. Instead she decided to send a text to Mike. Their teacher was some old woman who probably didn't even know what an iPhone was, so it didn't really matter anyway. _I am bored. –B_

It only took Mike a minute to reply. _You're not alone. –M_

_No, I'm sitting next to Rachel Berry. How can you shut her up? –B_

"Are you texting anyone important enough for it to interrupt our conversation?" Rachel suddenly said, eyeing Brittany's iPhone. The blonde quickly locked her screen, hiding her phone behind her back. "I'm not texting."

"You are, though. I just saw it with my own eyes. If I may say, it is considered rude to be texting and then lie about it while you're in a conversation." Rachel pursed her lips, ticking her pen against the side of her textbook. She looked at Brittany with a slightly questioning look in her eyes, and the blonde sighed. "I was just texting Mike."

At the exact same moment she said his name her phone vibrated and a text message popped up on the screen. She unlocked it, reading the text. _Use a lot of tape. –M_

Brittany giggled at his answer, lightly shaking her head. _I don't think I have enough tape for that. How is Santana doing? Does it look like she's in pain? –B_

"Can I ask what the subject of your conversation is?" Rachel said, trying to look at the screen. But Brittany locked it right after sending the text. It wasn't that she was afraid of Rachel seeing what she thought about her – she would say that face to face too – but she didn't like anyone know the affection she felt towards Santana. Like she had to protect the cheerleader, especially after the fight. Now that she thought about it she was kind of curious about what Rachel had heard about it. "Nothing special. He's sitting next to Santana."

"Santana Lopez? The girl that had been fighting last week during lunch break? Do you guys spend a lot of time together?"

Brittany pursed her lips, remembering the night she'd spent at the Lopez residence, holding Santana closely to her own body, gently playing with the dark hairs that were spread over the pillow like a fan. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"I have noticed her lack of absence last week at school. Was she hurt so badly? I heard the other girl had to be taken to the hospital though, so I am just assuming the fight was pretty bad," Rachel said. This girl had a gift to turn the simplest sentences into ones that were too long to actually pay attention to what she was saying. But this was about Santana, so she had Brittany's undivided attention at the moment.

"Her rib is badly bruised, but she'll be okay," Brittany answered. Another text let her phone vibrate again, and as she unlocked the screen she read the message. _She is tense as hell, but she always is, so I'm thinking it's not that bad. –M_

It reassured Brittany a bit, and she smiled at her phone. _That's good. I can't wait for this class to be over. It's so boring. –B_

"It still sounds pretty painful," Rachel said. "Can you deliver a message from me telling her I hope she recovers soon?"

Brittany nodded. "Sure."

* * *

Lunch break was a lot calmer this time. Brittany joined Santana outside, and even though the two didn't say a word the blonde could see her friend relax more every second. It was too cold to actually be sitting outside, but neither of the girls cared about that. Brittany figured it would be best for Santana to stay away from the crowd for a while, at least until things had calmed down a bit more.

Between two drags of her cigarette Santana looked at Brittany. "You haven't heard any rumors, have you?"

"Rumors about what?" Brittany asked innocently. She had been distracted by the way Santana's hair looked in the little bit of sunlight that reached them. It seemed so extremely soft... She had to keep herself from getting up to touch it.

"You know what," Santana sighed, throwing away the cigarette butt. Running a hand through her perfect hair, she gestured at herself. "Everything, basically."

"Not really, no. People just know that you've been fighting with some Cheerios, and you punched one of them so hard they had to go to the hospital. Well, and that you haven't been back in school until today," Brittany told her. She had repeated this almost every day since the fight, trying to reassure Santana no one had outed her – yet.

The two were silent again, and somehow Santana's pinkie found Brittany's and they linked them without much thought. It didn't feel as good as holding Santana's hand, but it was better than not touching her at all. Brittany had the sudden urge to kiss the Latina again. Or actually, she always had that urge. Sometimes it was worse than other times, though. Right now it was bad. Really bad. It felt like she was an addict and it had been too long since her last shot. Or as if Santana's lips were the only cure to some illness.

Brittany checked her phone for the time, and when she looked up again a Cheerio was standing in front of the two girls. Santana clasped her pinkie around the blonde's, as if she was trying to find comfort in that small part of her body. Brittany shoved a bit more to Santana, until their hips connected. Then, she looked at the Cheerio. "Is there a problem?"

The Cheerio – Sasha – cocked an eyebrow, placing her hands on her hips. "Your little _friend_ here started a fight with one of ours, and it seems like you're siding with her. What happened to loyalty, Brittany?"

"I am loyal," Brittany answered, trying her hardest not to look away. She had always quite liked Sasha, but it was just ridiculous she had to 'pick sides'.

"Loyal to who? I didn't know you were into _that_," Sasha continued.

Santana possibly tensed up even more at the word 'that'. She softly nudged Brittany in the ribs, but the blonde ignored her. She was seriously getting pissed right now. "Into _what_?"

"Don't be stupid, Brittany. She's a lesbian. Now don't tell me you didn't know that before." Sasha licked her lips, as if she was daring either of the girls opposite of the table to explode. And if that was her goal, she definitely succeeded. Santana shot up, yanking her pinkie out of Brittany's. Cringing in pain she narrowed her eyes at Sasha. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh please. I knew Blondie here was stupid, but I didn't know your brain was just the size of a peanut too. Everyone on the squad knows you're capital G-gay. We've all seen you look at us in the locker room. Let me tell you what, it's gross." She paused a second to wait for possible reactions, but Santana was just frozen. And Brittany too. "See, here's the thing. We don't like girls perving at us while we're already tired from practice. So you have two choices. Either you quit the Cheerios _on your own_, or we will help you a little. And you may be stupid, but I'm sure you can figure out how we would do that, can't you?" Sasha winked, before turning around on her heels swiftly. "It's your choice, Lespez."

After a few seconds Brittany regained control of her body. Slightly confused she looked at the Latina, who was still standing there. Her eyes were huge, and her lips slightly parted. A look of disbelief covered her face, and it looked like she could faint at any given moment.

"Santana... What did she mean by helping you a little?" Brittany whispered, hoping she had understood the girl wrongly. But their luck seemed to have taken its turn, and Santana sat down. She turned her head slowly, the tears in her eyes on the verge of spilling over. "I have to quit the Cheerios... Or they will out me in front of the whole school."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! Makes me happy! :) So I know this is not the best chapter I've written so far, but I still wanted to share it with you guys - and also because I suck at rewriting stuff. Oh, and I am not a Spanish speaker, so I just use Google Translate for everything Spanish. So there might be some mistakes in that. Enjoy chapter 15 and do not forget to leave a review! :)**

* * *

"They can't do that. I'll talk to Quinn. She can't allow this, and she's head cheerleader so she has the power to stop it." Brittany spoke quickly, already getting up. She was held back by Santana's hand grabbing her wrist, gently pulling her back down. The tears that had blinked in her eyes just seconds before had disappeared and replaced by a certain determination. She swallowed. "It's okay, Britt. And to be honest... I don't think Quinn would do anything about it. You heard what Sasha said – _everyone_ on the squad knows. If she wanted to do something, she would've done it already."

"I don't believe you," Brittany said. "Quinn's my friend. know she's a bitch sometimes, but she cares about me. And I care about you. She would never do that." She yanked her hand out of Santana's, turning around. Without listening to the Latina's protest she walked back inside the cafeteria, straight to the table the Cheerios and jocks were always sitting on.

The other cheerleaders looked at her funny, but Brittany didn't care. She tapped on Quinn's shoulder, raising one eyebrow. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Quinn sighed visibly, but then she got up. Grabbing the remains of her pizza she pulled Brittany towards the hallways. The blonde quickly looked over her shoulder, to Santana, but the girl had disappeared. Part of her wanted to go back and look for her, but Brittany knew it was better to talk to Quinn first.

Quinn leaned back against the wall, looking slightly bored. "What is it?"

"Are you really okay with all this?" Brittany said, trying her best not to sound too angry. She wasn't an aggressive person and she loathed violence, but right now they were really pushing her.

"I'm assuming you're talking about Santana being a lesbian," Quinn said, seeming completely bored. As she ate the last bit of her pizza she studied her nails, which only pissed Brittany off more. "Yes, I am. How can you even _allow_ this? You're in glee club too! Isn't that all about acceptance? Because right now you seem like all those other Cheerio bitches." Brittany threw her hands in the air, feeling disgusted even looking at Quinn. She had really thought the girl was different, but it turned out Santana had been right about her all along.

"Friendly reminder you were one of the Cheerio bitches before Santana showed up," Quinn replied. "You just stood there whenever we slushied Man Hands. Why is this so different? All I see is you standing up for a girl who's been a total bitch ever since she came here. Hell, she's been a bitch to you, too! Why do you _care_ so much?"

"I believe people can change. Sometimes people are a bitch because they are hiding something, but others have no reason to do so. And I care because I care about Santana, okay? She's been really nice and she doesn't deserve all of this." Brittany shook her head violently. "And just FYI, if Santana's quitting Cheerios, I am too."

"What?" Quinn exclaimed. "You can't do that! We need you for Regionals! You're one of the best dancers on the squad! Jeez, what's gotten into you? Ever since Santana..." And then her eyes lit up. Her lips formed a perfectly shaped O and she forced out a laugh. "Oh, I get it. _She_ is the one you like. The one you told me about before? Wow. I see it all perfectly clear now. Seriously, Brittany. Are you really _this_ stupid? Giving up your spot on the Cheerios for some girl you barely know? I think I have really misjudged you." And with that she walked away, back to the cafeteria.

Brittany kept staring at the spot Quinn had just been standing, and she felt sick. Because Quinn had called her stupid. Because Quinn had shown nothing but hate towards Santana. Because now she realized she had made a mistake trusting Quinn all those times before. Because Quinn was right – she had only known Santana for a little more than three weeks. But if everything felt so right, how could it _possibly_ be wrong? It couldn't. They had a connection, and Brittany knew it.

She felt tears well up in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks. Out of confusion. Out of anger she had never felt before this strongly. She balled her fists, wiping the tears away. She couldn't cry. She _had_ to find Santana. If this was hard for her, she couldn't imagine how it must be for Santana. After all, it was _her_ secret that was about to be revealed.

* * *

She found the girl on the bleachers, clasping her arms around her waist desperately. Her shoulders moved under heavy, inaudible sobs. It was only when Brittany gently wrapped her arms around her Santana acknowledges her presence. Between two sobs she said, "Go away," but she sounded so weak Brittany didn't even think about it. Instead she pulled Santana as close to her own body as she could, pressing her lips against the girl's forehead. Santana buried her face in Brittany's shoulder, suddenly pressing herself into the blonde as hard as she could. Her sobs became louder and her whole body seemed to be shaking.

They sat there for a while, just holding each other. When Santana finally calmed down a bit she pulled away, looking at Brittany shyly. Her thumb ran across the blonde's cheek, and it was only now she realized she had also been crying.

Santana forced a dry laugh, wiping her eyes. "Look at us. We look like complete idiots."

"We do," Brittany nodded, not getting why Santana was laughing. She didn't think the situation was funny at all, but she was glad she wasn't crying anymore. Pulling her hair out of its regular high pony she ran a hand through her hair, sighing. "I have to tell you something."

Santana raised her eyebrows in surprise at that. Her eyes narrowed. "You didn't do something mindless, did you?"

Brittany shrugged. "I said if you quit the Cheerios I'd be quitting, too."

Santana's eyes widened, and she threw one hand in the air. "Why would you do that? You _love_ cheerleading!"

"Only because I can dance, and I can do that in glee club too. Or somewhere else." Brittany shrugged again. She wanted to add she loved Santana too, but now didn't really seem the right time for that. "Besides, it's not going to be much fun without you anyway."

"I can't let you do that," Santana said, shaking her head. "You were on the Cheerios before you even know I existed. And what if you're going to miss it? I don't think Coach would allow you back on the squad."

"I don't care." Brittany grabbed Santana's hands, rubbing her thumb on the back. "And I'm not going to change my mind, so don't try and talk me out of it."

"You're crazy," Santana mumbled, staring at their conjoint hands. Then she sighed, pulling her own hair out of its high pony too. "Let's do this then. Maybe we still have time to change before class starts again."

* * *

After changing to street clothes in the bathroom Santana and Brittany looked at each other. Santana's hair was still down and it fell in her face, covering half of it. She looked beautiful, Brittany thought. Sure, her make-up was a little smudged and her cheeks were still a little puffy from crying, but to Brittany she was still stunning. The blonde didn't understand why _anyone_ would want to hurt her. But then again, she didn't understand more things sometimes, and no one ever bothered to explain it to her. So maybe it was just her, but she doubted it.

"Are you ready?" Brittany asked Santana, who was fixing her make-up in the mirror. The Latina nodded, holding out her pinkie. Brittany wrapped her own pinkie around it eagerly, and the two walked out of the bathroom. It was still lunch break, so the corridors were nearly empty. They passed the choir room, and the lockers Santana was slammed into a week before. They passed the doors to the auditorium. And then they reached Sue Sylvester's office.

Brittany didn't really know how to do this thing. She had never quit the Cheerios – or any other club for that matter – before and Coach wasn't really the nicest person she'd ever encountered. In fact, she was probably one of the meanest. And that was including Quinn and Sasha.

"How do we do this?" she whispered to Santana, while they were standing outside of the office. She could see Coach Sylvester sitting behind her desk, filling out some paperwork – probably for Regionals.

Santana shrugged. "I assumed you knew."

"How? I have been on the Cheerios forever, and no one has ever quit before. You just don't quit the Cheerios. That's like social suicide."

"Let's just go inside and put down our uniforms. I mean... How difficult can it be?"

"Um," Brittany mumbled. "Have you _met_ Coach? She is going to kill us."

Santana nodded, but then pushed the door of the office open. Coach Sylvester looked up, raising her eyebrows in surprise. "Why hello, Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Fake Boobs. To what do I owe you the pleasure? And why aren't you two wearing your uniforms?"

"We're quitting the Cheerios," Santana said immediately, laying her uniform on the desk. She nudged Brittany, encouraging her to do the same. The blonde followed her friend's order, biting her lip. She didn't like this. At all. But she had made a promise, and she was going to keep it. That didn't mean she was going to say a word, though.

Santana didn't seem to share her opinion. "You know, you should really talk to your precious Cheerios. Maybe if you had more power of what they were doing we wouldn't have to do this." And with that she pulled Brittany out of the office, before Coach Sylvester could respond to them.

"I guess that's how you do it," Santana said, closing the door behind her. When she saw the sad on Brittany's face her own softened and she sighed. "I'm really sorry you have to do this. But what was I supposed to do? I can't stay on the Cheerios just to keep you on the squad, and you know that."

"I know that," Brittany mumbled, pulling her pinkie out of Santana's. She licked her lips, and then forced a smile. "It's okay. I don't want those girls bullying you for something like this. I can't believe I was a part of that for almost four years."

Santana shrugged. "It's part of the job, I guess."

The two started walking towards their next class – as lunch was almost over. But when they turned a corner they bumped into a couple Cheerios, and they started laughing. They were pointing, and laughing even harder. At first Santana's face grew red, then her jaw clenched and her hands balled up to fists. Brittany saw all this happening, and she grabbed Santana around the waist. Just in time, because the girl was about to launch herself at the girls. "Isn't it enough that I already quit the Cheerios for you guys? Vete a la mierda! Vete a la mierda todos! ¡Te odio! Te odio tanto! Ni siquiera puedo mirarte! Sólo ... vete a la mierda, dios maldita sea!"

"Hold up, Lespez," one of the Cheerios said. "Speak English, or we might get you deported." And suddenly they were holding slushies – or they had been holding them all along. Brittany didn't even know. She had never had to pay attention to who was holding slushies before, and she wasn't used to it. The Cheerios laughed at the comment, and then they tossed their slushies in Santana's face.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Okay, so I know this is kinda really short, but I hope the context kinda makes up for it. If not... I'm sorry! Keep reviewing guys! You're lacking a bit! :(**

* * *

"I'm never going back to that place!" Santana yelled, storming out of the parking lot. "They can go fuck themselves. I'm done here."

Brittany chased after the Latina, grabbing her wrist. "Don't. Don't do this. They're just trying to make you mad."

Santana turned around, looking at the blonde. There was a livid look in her eyes. "Well, congratulations to them. I _am_ mad." She gestured at her clothes, still drenched in the red slushie she had been cleaning up for the past fifteen minutes. "I don't care. I'm _not_ going back here. _Ever._"

"They're not worth it," Brittany sighed. She understood why the Latina was getting so worked up about this, but it was _so_ tiring. It was the third day in a row Santana had been slushied, and it seemed to become a never ending story. Brittany, though, had never had a slushie in the face and she felt kind of guilty about that. She wanted to help her friend, but she wouldn't listen. She kept saying she could fix it herself, and that she didn't need help from anyone – especially not Brittany. But in the meantime she would run to the blonde every time something went wrong.

"It's just a few months to graduation. Just hold on," Brittany continued, squeezing Santana's hand. The Latina was breathing heavily, and she looked like she could collapse any second. She clasped her free hand around her ribcage, and Brittany knew she had won, once again. Santana relaxed, sitting down on the sidewalk. Without saying a word she leaned into Brittany, and the blonde wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders. She hated seeing her friend like this. The moments after an outburst were always the worst, especially because she never knew if it was the end or not.

It was kind of weird, actually. A few weeks ago Brittany would have never thought of herself in a comforting position. When she first laid eyes on the Latina in dance class, she hadn't even wondered if they would become friends – or more than that. She just assumed they'd see each other once a week, to eventually win the dance competition. And here they were, sitting on the sidewalk instead of at school, dropped out of the competition before they could even finish their choreography. Not that she was complaining. She liked Santana, but the way things had turned out were kind of heavy. She wouldn't want to share all this stuff with anyone else but Santana, though.

"How's your rib?" Brittany mumbled against Santana's hair. The Latina shrugged. "I should probably not have been running. Or yelling."

"Do you want to go home?"

Santana sighed. "We can't. We've got class."

"I don't care. We can skip today."

"No, we can't. I don't want to be a bad influence." Santana's brown eyes locked Brittany's blue, and the blonde shook her head. "Like I said... I don't care. School sucks anyway."

"If you say so..." Santana wiggled her way out of Brittany's arms, getting up from the sidewalk. She held out her hand, cocking one eyebrow. A smile tugged Brittany's lips and she grabbed Santana's hand, pushing herself up. "Okay then. Let's go."

They walked back to Brittany's car, and when they were back on school grounds their hands slipped away from each other, and they linked pinkies instead. Brittany didn't know why they did that, but she understood Santana didn't want to be caught holding hands with a _girl_.

They were both quiet during the drive to Santana's house. Brittany didn't really care. Just being around Santana was enough for her, and now she could concentrate on the road better. When she pulled over they both stayed seated. Brittany stopped the engine, looking at Santana. "What do you want to do?"

Santana bit her lower lip, and her eyes lowered to Brittany's. The way she looked at her drove Brittany crazy. Santana must have noticed the eager look in Brittany's eyes, because a small smile tugged her lips, right before she leaned in. The kiss was different from the few kisses they'd shared before. It was... hungry. Santana didn't hold back, for one thing. She pressed herself against Brittany, which was kind of difficult since they were still sitting in the car.

At first Brittany was surprised by the sudden eagerness that seemed to have taken over Santana's body, but after a few seconds she felt herself kissing back. The feeling that came with it was... overwhelming. It was like something exploded and made her feel all fuzzy and warm inside.

One of her hands slipped from Santana's cheek to her waist. She could feel the bandage around her ribcage, but she couldn't be bothered by it. Not now they were kissing like this.

She felt Santana's hands slip underneath her T-shirt, and her nails dug into the skin there. Lightly panting the Latina pulled back. "We're in a car."

"We're also parked in front of your house," Brittany answered, before catching Santana's upper lips between her own. "We can go inside."

Santana just nodded.

* * *

Only minutes later they upstairs, and Brittany pushed Santana towards her bed. A image of last time they had been kissing like that flashed through her mind, but she pushed it away. Santana was way too eager to cut it off this time. Or so it seemed to Brittany.

She had to use one arm to push herself up a bit, so she wouldn't fall onto Santana's body, and her other hand was too occupied with the Latina's dark hair. Luckily for her Santana had two free hands, and she continued just where she left off – right under Brittany's T-shirt. Her hands were cold against Brittany's skin, and she shivered a bit. She sat up, deciding not to make this more difficult than it had to be. So she took off her shirt. Santana's eyes widened, and suddenly she was being pulled back into Santana. Their lips connected and it felt like fireworks exploded in her stomach. A moan escaped her mouth, and Santana smirked. Without saying a word she raised her arms, and Brittany took the hint. When she pulled up the shirt it revealed the bandage and for a second Brittany didn't know what to do with it.

Santana noticed her hesitation. "Just ignore it. It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," Santana nodded, reaching behind Brittany's back. Her slim fingers played with the strap of Brittany's bra, and when the blonde gave an approving nod she unhooked it. Carelessly throwing it away she pulled the blonde back against her body, pressing her knee between her thighs to part them. Brittany obeyed, slowly lowering her kisses. Her fingers traced along the bandage, and she kissed Santana's belly button. She moved her fingers lower, and she was surprised to find out Santana's panties were soaked. Apparently she wasn't the only one going crazy inside. She pulled down Santana's panties, revealing her wet, swollen folds.

Santana moaned when Brittany's fingers touched them, and her hips jerked against her hand. After a bit of teasing and playing Brittany gently pushed her fingers inside of Santana, and let her thumb play with the Latina's clit. She started thrusting slowly, but Santana shook her head. "F-faster."

Brittany smiled, doing as the girl asked. She fastened her pace, circling her thumb faster as well. Santana's breath became uneven and she seemed to be gasping for air. Brittany smirked when the girl's back arched and at the same time her hips rocked in the same pace as Brittany moved her fingers. She had never done this before, but it seemed like she was doing a good job.

She added a second finger, and after only second Santana suddenly seemed to tense, and Brittany's fingers got kind of stuck inside Santana. Still trying to thrust she felt Santana shudder against her own body, and then she relaxed. She pulled her fingers back, looking a bit unsure. "Was that okay?"

"O-okay? You're a g-genius," Santana mumbled, still panting. She moved, leaning on her elbows. "D-do you want me to...?"

Brittany frowned, taking a second before realizing what Santana was indicating. "S-sure."

* * *

That evening Brittany was laying on her own bed, suddenly feeling lonely. She had spend the whole day at Santana's place, and it was suddenly very quiet. Not that Santana was that big of a talker, but she just loved hearing her voice. She honestly had no idea what them having sex meant for their friendship. She just hoped it wouldn't make things weird between them. But then again, things hadn't been weird that afternoon, so it probably wouldn't affect anything between them. It only confirmed Brittany's feelings for Santana. She liked her. No, she was in love with her. Maybe she even loved her. She loved her. She loved Santana? Probably.

Was it too soon to love someone, though? They'd only known each other for a month. In movies they never seemed to be bothered by that, but this wasn't a movie. This was her life, and she didn't want to screw things up between them. Not now everything was going so great. Well, not really _great _great, but between them it was great.

She grabbed her phone, unlocking the screen. _Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow for school? –B_

_Sure. Why not? –S_

Brittany smiled, typing a message back. _Well, you said you didn't want to go to school anymore. I was just checking. –B_

_Oh. Yeah. I didn't mean that. I mean... I have to graduate, don't I? –S_

_True. I'll see you tomorrow then. Good night! –B_

_Good night, Britt-Britt. –S_

* * *

**A/N #2: So I'm not that great at writing smut, so I'm sorry for that. Forgive me? I have cookies? :3**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hello lovely readers of mine! So I know Chapter 16 kinda sucked, but this one's better, I promise. It's kind of a plottwist, but I hope you still like it! I guess we're going kinda more towards the "and everything that happens after" part of the summary, hopefully that's okay with you. Please leave your opinion, because they're highly motivating and I've noticed you guys are a bit lacking with reviewing. Not that I'm complaining, I just noticed it. This chapter is a bit longer than the ones I usually write, but I don't think any of you mind. Anyway... Here's Chapter 17. Enjoy!**

* * *

The next morning when Brittany picked Santana up the Latina was notably quiet. No, she wasn't quiet. She was just talking like every other moment when it was just the two of them. It was something else that seemed... off. The way she jumped every time an unexpected sound came out of nowhere, and the look in her dark eyes... Brittany didn't know what to think of it. Everything screamed that there was something wrong, but she couldn't really put a finger on it. And to just randomly ask Santana why she was being weird wasn't probably the best idea ever.

Keeping her thoughts to herself was one of the hardest thing she ever had to do. She didn't understand how Santana did it – she herself was a very open person. She never gave much thought to what she was saying, it just all flowed out. Maybe that was where she and Santana compensated each other. While Santana was too reserved Brittany was too open. If they joined forces they would be indestructible.

Pulling over in the parking lot Brittany parked her car on her regular spot. She had claimed it as soon as she got a car, and no one ever parked there anymore. It was just _her_ spot. One of the only things that hadn't changed. She looked over at Santana, who was studying her face in the rearview mirror. "Santana...?"

The Latina looked up. "Yes?"

"Since we're not on the Cheerios anymore you don't have anything besides just classes. I figured you might want to reconsider joining the glee club? There are all very nice people there, like Mike. You liked Mike, didn't you?"

"Why should I have any curriculums? I don't see any reason to stay at school longer than necessary." Santana frowned, pulling a mascara stick from her bag. Grimacing she continued. "And yeah, Mike's good, I guess."

"I don't know... Aren't they supposed to get you into colleges and stuff?" Brittany wondered out loud. "My parents are always saying that."

"I know. But I'm not sure if glee club would add to that. Besides, I have a GPA of like 3.8 or something. I'm not all that worried about college." Santana finished applying her mascara, putting away the stick. "I've got class now. I'll see you during lunch?" Looking around she leaned in, pressing a quick kiss on Brittany's cheek. And then she was gone.

Brittany sighed, her fingertips touching the spot Santana's lips had touched her skin. "Yeah. I'll see ya."

* * *

Classes that morning were boring. Not just average boring, _extremely _boring. So boring Brittany made a list in her notebook with reasons why she should have never taken geography. She didn't care about what caused wind and rain, or why it didn't rain in Africa as much as in Seattle. They should give 'how to make sure your best friend doesn't get bullied at school because of her sexuality' instead. But that wasn't going to happen, so for now she had to focus on clouds and stuff instead.

When the bell rang she jumped out of her seat, accidently throwing all her books off the table. Sighing she kneeled down, putting them into her backpack. Part of her was hoping Santana would magically appear and help her – and then they'd look each other in the eye and start making out – but apparently those things only happened in movies. Getting up she realized everybody else had already left the classroom, and the only other person in the room was the teacher. She had her eyebrows raised and a clearly annoyed look in her eyes. "Are you going to get out or what?"

Brittany nodded, swinging her bag over her shoulder. She muttered a soft, "I'm sorry," and then rushed to the door. When she stepped out of the classroom she immediately lightened up a bit, realizing it was lunch break. Which meant seeing Santana again. Not that they hadn't seen each other for _that_ long, but every second away from the girl was one too many.

She met Santana at her locker. Leaning against the row of lockers she tapped the Latina on the shoulder, but she didn't get the response she'd been expecting.

Santana's head snapped up, a dark look in her eyes. "What?"

Deciding not to be thrown off guard, Brittany smiled. "How was class?"

"Long," Santana said, taking books out of her backpack. "Why?"

"Just wondering," Brittany mumbled, frowning. It seemed like in the past two hours or so Santana had crept back into her shell even more than she had this morning, and it worried her. She knew Santana was a big girl, but she cared for her. It was normal to worry about people you cared about, right? "Hey, do you want to go to BreadstiX tonight?"

Santana looked up. "What? You mean, like a date?" she said in lowered voice, looking past Brittany before finally locking her eyes with the blonde's.

"If you want it to be a date, then sure. But we could just go as friends if you prefer," Brittany nodded enthusiastically.

Santana shrugged, nodding and shaking her head at the same time. "I don't know, Britt. Let me think about it for a while, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Brittany said, nodding so hard she was afraid it would break her neck. When Santana closed her locker, the blonde held out her pinkie in front of her friend's face, wiggling it in the air. Santana sighed, pushing her hand down. "Can you wait with the cute stuff until we're outside?"

Brittany's eyes narrowed. Her heart fluttered at the 'cute stuff', but sank when she realized Santana didn't even want to be seen pinkie-holding with her. While she was the one that linked them for the first time. Brittany sighed, too. "Why are you doing this?"

"Do what?" Santana asked, not looking at the blonde.

"You're acting all weird all of the sudden."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Santana's voice sounded clearly annoyed, but Brittany wasn't going to let it go now it had finally come out. "You are doing it again."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You're acting like this whole different person all of the sudden. Did something happen I don't know? Did those Cheerios –"

"No. Brittany, nothing's going on," Santana interrupted her. "Look, don't worry about me, okay? I can handle myself."

Brittany nodded, leaning her head against the lockers. "I know, but –"

"Oh, shit," Santana said, before Brittany could finish her sentence. And before she knew what was happening Santana's arm wrapped around her waist, shoving the girl behind her. Because she was longer than the Latina, Brittany could look over her shoulder. Her face fell when she saw three Cheerios standing in front of them, holding slushies. They weren't going to throw them again, were they?

Santana straightened her shoulders, looking at each of the girls standing just a meter away. "Walk away now, and we'll forget you were even here."

"Look, she's found her voice. Isn't it adorable," one of the Cheerios scoffed. Brittany recognized her only now. Sasha.

Santana's grip on Brittany's waist tightened, and she turned her head slightly. "Get out, Britt." And in a whisper, "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Protecting your dumbass girlfriend. How sweet of you," Sasha commented. She raised her hand, ready to throw the slushie in Santana's face. And then everything happened _really_ fast.

Santana pushed Brittany away with such force that the girl stumbled backwards for a meter or two. When she had recovered enough to look up again she saw Santana standing there, knees slightly bended. She was holding something, and the Cheerios recoiled. One of them started screaming – high and shrill. They were shouting things, but Brittany didn't understand what they were saying. Her eyes were locked at Santana's back, and the _thing_ she was holding. She couldn't see what it was, but she saw sunlight flickering. Could it be...? Did Santana...? Really...?

The Cheerios turned around and practically ran away, dumping their slushies in the bin on their way out. Sasha was up front, yelling something to the other students.

Everyone in the corridor was now looking at Santana. The Latina was breathing heavily, slowly getting up. She made a quick movement, opening her locker and throwing whatever she'd been holding into it. Then she turned around, beckoning Brittany to follow her. The blonde did as asked, running after the girl. "Santana... What just happened?"

"I think those Cheerios won't be any trouble anymore," Santana just answered, pushing open the door to the cafeteria. "I think _no one_ will be any trouble anymore, to be exact."

* * *

It wasn't until _after_ lunch break something happened again. _During_ lunch Santana and Brittany were sitting outside – as usual, and no one bothered them. That wasn't as usual, but Santana reassured Brittany nothing was wrong.

But something _was_ wrong. During their next class Principal Figgins broadcasted a message in which he asked Santana to come to his office. She didn't make any attempts to even get up, though, until Brittany nudged her. Santana took out her earplugs, looking at Brittany. "What?"

"Principal Figgins wants you in his office," the blonde patiently explained. "I think you'd better go."

Something in Santana's eyes changed – the already dark look possibly hardened even more. She stared at Brittany for a couple seconds, frozen. Then she started packing her bags, slowly. After she was finished she raised one eyebrow at Brittany. "Are you coming?"

"But he only wants _you_ to go..." Brittany mumbled, already throwing her stuff in her backpack. "Whatever. I'll just come along."

Mr. Shuester, who was teaching the class, tried to object, but Santana shot him a dark glare, which shut him up.

In the hallways Brittany started walking next to Santana. "What do you think he wants from you?"

"I have no idea," Santana replied, a little bit too quick. "I guess we're about to find out." She pushed the door to Principal Figgins' office open, gesturing at Brittany to go first.

The blonde was surprised to see Sasha and the other Cheerios sitting there, as well as Coach Sylvester _and_ Santana's parents.

"Santana," Principal Figgins said in his weird accent that was incredibly hard to understand. "I see you brought a friend."

"I sure did," Santana nodded, nervously holding out her pinkie. Brittany didn't have to think twice before wrapping her own around it. She could sense the Latina was uncomfortable, and even though she didn't know why, she wanted to do everything in her power to change that.

"What is going on here?" Brittany asked, eyeing all the people in the room. "Why are your parents here? And Coach Sylvester? Santana...?"

But the Latina wasn't paying attention to her. She looked at the Cheerios with one of those looks of which people would say 'if looks could kill', and then at her parents. There were tears burning in her eyes, on the verge of spilling over. Brittany squeezed Santana's pinkie, incredibly confused. The girl didn't respond. Instead she looked at her parents, at the principal, and back at her parents. "I can explain..."

"Please do so!" Santana's father exclaimed. "I was at work when your mother called me to tell me your school had been calling her. They said you brought a knife to school. I said that my daughter would never do that, but here we are. So yes, please do explain."

A knife? Santana had brought a _knife_ to school? Brittany looked at her friend in shock, and now her eyes were burning with tears, too. Why the hell would Santana take a _knife_ to _school_? Had she completely lost her mind?

"I'm stupid, okay? I know that. I hadn't intended to actually _use_ it. It wasn't even supposed to come out of my bag. But when those _bitches_ crossed the line, I lost control. It's not my fault, it's Snix's," Santana said, her voice getting louder with every word she said. And then, really softly, "I just wanted them to stop."

"So you bring a knife? That's not how we raised you, Santana. Look at me when I'm talking," Santana's dad shouted. He pointed his finger at the girls sitting at the bench. "Go apologize to them, _now._"

Santana's jaw clenched, and she shook her head. "No."

"_What_?"

"I said _no_. I'm not going to apologize for something that didn't even happen. _They_ are the ones that should be apologizing. For throwing those slushies, for _making me quit the Cheerios_. For calling me names, and for calling Brittany my _dumbass girlfriend_," Santana yelled. Halfway her sentence she had gotten up from her seat, yanking her hand from Brittany's. "They've gotten exactly what they deserved, and I am _not_ going to apologize for that."

"Wait," Maribel said, raising her hands. "Are you saying these girls were bullying you?"

"Well," Santana said, before being interrupted by her father. "I don't care what they did. Threatening people with a knife is _never_ acceptable."

"Let her finish," Maribel protested, pushing her husband down by his shoulders. Then she looked at Santana. "Continue."

"It wasn't exactly bullying what they did," Santana spoke softly, but now Brittany decided to interfere. "It was _totally _bullying. First they threatened to out her _in front of the whole school_ if she didn't quit Cheerios. And then they kept throwing slushies in her face. From what I know that is defined as bullying." Brittany also got up, stepping next to Santana. The Latina looked at her, silently thanking her. Brittany just smiled as comforting as she could.

"So let me get this straight. Miss Stevens and her friends bullied Miss Lopez, until point she felt like she had to take a knife to school?" Principal Figgins summarized. Everyone nodded. "So what is Miss Pierce doing here, exactly?"

"I'm here to support Santana," Brittany answered quickly, sitting down again. She pulled at Santana's wrist, and finally the girl gave in, sitting next to Brittany.

"So Miss Pierce has nothing to do with this all?"

Before anyone could say anything Santana nodded. "Nope. Nothing."

"Okay. Well then," Principal Figgins nodded. "I will hereby suspend Miss Lopez _and_ Miss Stevens for a week from school. They will be welcomed back the Monday after next week."

Suddenly everyone started talking again – protesting mainly – but Brittany just looked at Santana. "Are you okay?"

The Latina nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks for standing up for me."

"You're welcome. I'm sorry you got suspended."

"That's okay. At least I don't have to worry about getting a slushie in the face for a week. I mean... That's something, right?"

* * *

Santana was only gone for one hour and Brittany already missed her more than anything. They were supposed to have all their classes together after lunch break, and she missed the girl by her side. Eventually Brittany didn't even bother to go to class anymore. She just sat in the choir room, staring at her own reflection in the window. She only looked up when the door opened, but turned away again when she saw Mike coming in. "Hey."

"Hey," Brittany sighed.

Mike grabbed a chair next to Brittany and sat down. "What are you doing?"

"Hiding..." Brittany answered, looking at her friend. She had no idea how he found her, but it didn't matter. She was glad her was here now. Leaning into him she felt his arms wrap around her shoulders, and when he spoke she felt his warm breath in her neck. "From who?"

"Everyone, I guess. They all hate me." It was true. Sasha was a popular girl, and now she was expelled because of her and Santana. Other students had been shooting mean glares at her in the hallways.

"They don't hate you, Brittany," Mike objected.

"Yes, they do. I've seen the way they look at me. I'm not stupid, Mike."

"They hate Santana. They don't hate you. They just hate that you pick her side instead of the Cheerios." He looked at her, raising his eyebrows. "They just want you to hang out with them more."

Brittany scoffed. "That's not a good reason. I would be hanging out with them if they didn't bully Santana so much. Then we could both hang out with them."

Mike sighed. "Look, I know that you care about Santana... But are you sure she's right for you? You seem kind of miserable right now, and that's not the Brittany I know."

Brittany pulled herself out of Mike's arms, and looked at him skeptical. "Why wouldn't she be right for me?"

"Well, she brought a knife to school, for one. I'm not entirely sure that fits in with the category 'good influence'." The Asian tilted his head, looking at his friend. Brittany locked her eyes with is, and frowned. "She did that because she was tired of being bullied. She didn't do anything with it, really."

"I know, but..."

"But what, Mike? Everybody thinks she's a bad person, but she's not! You don't even know her and you just go with the flow. I thought you'd understand, but you're just like everyone else. Judging her without really knowing her. It's pathetic," Brittany exclaimed, secretly feeling proud at herself for knowing a difficult word like that. But this wasn't the time to feel proud, or anything positive. Santana got supsended, and there was nothing funny about that.

"You're right," Mike nodded. "I'm sorry. I _don't_ know her. I have no right to say things like this. I'm just looking out for you, because I care about you. You know that, right?"

Brittany got up, stepping towards the door. "Yeah, I know."

"Where are you going?" Mike asked, visibly confused. His arms were waving a bit in the air, as if he was trying to embrace something that wasn't there.

"Santana," Brittany simply answered.

"But you have class..." Mike stated, looking even more confused now.

Brittany threw her hands in the air. "I don't care. I just need to get out of here. Besides, you have class, too."

Mike frowned. "I know, but..."

"But what?" Brittany sighed again, raising one eyebrow at her friend.

"Nothing. Have fun with Santana."

"Thanks." Brittany forced a smile, walking towards the door. She stopped in the doorway, turning around. "And Mike...?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for looking out for me."

Mike just nodded. "You're welcome."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Hey guys. I'm sorry for not updating for a few days. I didn't really feel it, and I didn't exactly know what to write. Anyways, I hope this chapter makes up for it! Please leave your comments, I'm ****_really _****curious how you all feel about this chapter! And as always, enjoy reading!**

* * *

Apparently Santana wasn't just suspended, but her parents had decided to also ground her. Part of Brittany knew it wasn't a strange thing for parents to do, but the majority of her just couldn't agree with it. It wasn't Santana's fault she had felt the need to bring something to school to defend herself against the bullying – and if that something was a knife, then so be it. And despite the suspension, it had probably helped a lot. People now knew you shouldn't mess with Santana, because she might just do something reckless. But that wasn't the worst of this all. The worst was that Brittany couldn't even _visit_ Santana now. The girl didn't answer her texts and phone calls either, so Brittany guessed her parents had also taken her phone away. Images of Santana miserably looking out of her window haunted Brittany for the rest of the weekend.

Sunday evening brought a new kind of surprise. A surprise with a name. After dinner, Brittany had gone to her room. She had just sent Santana another text message, still hoping for some kind of response, and was now sitting down behind her desk. Mike had filled her in with everything she had missed Friday afternoon, and they had a bunch of homework to do. Normally she would never spend her Sunday night doing homework, but she wanted to graduate, now more than ever. It was the only way to get rid of those Cheerio bitches, and she was willing to put effort into it. Just when she started to understand the stuff she was reading about her mom called from downstairs. "Brittany, there's someone at the door for you!"

Brittany's head shot up. Was it Santana? She grabbed her phone, unlocking the screen. There were still no new messages, but it could be possible she had sneaked out of her house without her phone... right? Right. She got out of her seat, almost falling backwards in enthusiasm. "I'm coming!" she called, running a hand through her hair, making sure she looked good. She caught a flash of herself in the mirror and nodded, content with what she saw. She almost tripped a few times running down the stairs, but without really hurting herself she reached the front door. Her mother was standing facing the person standing outside, and they seemed to be talking. Brittany peeked her head around her mother's shoulder, expecting to see Santana standing there. But it wasn't Santana. It was Quinn.

Brittany couldn't help but express her disappointment. "Oh." She looked at the blonde, cocking an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

Before Quinn could answer, though, she turned around on her heels, facing her mother. "_Bye_, mom."

The woman understood what her daughter was implying and her hands shot up in the air. "Don't mind me. I'll just leave. Bye, Quinn. It was nice seeing you again." And she left.

Brittany turned back to Quinn, leaning against the door. She looked at the blonde in question, slightly pursing her lips. Quinn sighed, biting her lower lip. "C-can I come in?"

"Well, that depends. Did you bring a slushie? Or a bunch of harsh words?"

"No. Brittany... I came to talk to you." Quinn stepped forward, trying to get inside. Brittany stepped aside, letting the girl in. She didn't like it, but something about the way Quinn was talking told her it was okay to trust her... for now. "Let's go upstairs, then."

She went first, with Quinn just about a meter behind her. When they got to Brittany's bedroom she sat down on the bed, pulling up her legs. She gestured at the office chair, and Quinn sat down too. She rolled towards the bed, visibly looking for the right words to start this conversation. "Look. Brittany. You need to know I never meant things to get so... out of hand. You know Sasha. She just kind of started doing everything on her own. If it were up to me –"

"It was up to you," Brittany interrupted her, slowly shaking her head. "You basically stood there, watching while _your_ Cheerios bullied Santana. All the time. And you didn't say anything. Maybe it's just me, but it didn't seem like you actually cared about what they did. You just let them do it." She looked at Quinn, her blue eyes basically expressing every feeling she had right now. Hurt. Anger. Disappointment. All in one glance.

Quinn swallowed, avoiding Brittany's gaze. She was silent for a while, and all that time Brittany kept staring at her. She wasn't going to let Quinn get away with this. No matter how much she cared about the girl – or had cared, rather – it was still wrong, and she should know it. She was head cheerleader, for god's sake! That meant she could have done something if she wanted to. So apparently she didn't want to. Well.

"I did," Quinn said quietly. "And I feel awful about it. That's why I'm here. To apologize."

"You don't do apologies," Brittany answered almost immediately, furrowing her brow.

"Doesn't that show just how sorry I am, then?" Quinn sucked on her bottom lip, looking at Brittany for the first time. "Really, Brittany. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let it come this far. I know it's wrong, and I'm here, apologizing."

As much as she hated it, Brittany could just not stay mad at Quinn. She wanted to – this girl was one of the reasons Santana got hurt the way she did. The reason Santana was suspended _and_ grounded. But she just couldn't. Brittany wasn't someone who could stay mad at someone forever. At some point she just gave up, and accepted the apology. She extended her arms, wiggling them in the air. A small smile tugged Quinn's lips when she got up from the chair, wrapping her arms around Brittany's body. Both of them laughed, rolling over and hitting the floor.

"Ow," Quinn mumbled, pushing Brittany off of her. "Jeez, B. You're heavy."

"Am not!" Brittany shouted, pretending to be upset. She poked Quinn's ribs with her foot. "You're just super weak."

"I'm the head cheerleader. How does that make me weak? I have power over you," Quinn answered, struggling to get up. Brittany pushed her down again, and because she was much stronger Quinn had no choice but to stay on the ground. The taller blonde grinned. "I'm not a Cheerio anymore. You don't have power over me _at all_."

Quinn stopped struggling. "Then rejoin. I'll make sure you won't get shit from the others."

Brittany stopped pushing, and she straightened her back. Blinking a few times she sat back down on the bed. She looked at Quinn while the girl got off the floor, dusting her clothes. The blonde came to sit next to Brittany on the bed, looking her in the eyes. "Look, I know _a lot_ has happened, but I miss you on the Cheerios. And I'm sure Coach will let you back on without a second thought. Especially now she knows about what happened with Santana."

"I-Are you sure? Is everyone okay with it? I _want_ to be on the Cheerios again, but I'm not sure if Santana –"

"Forget about Santana for a while," Quinn snapped. Then, in a softer voice, "I mean, you shouldn't do something _just_ because Santana wants you to. It's your life. You only have so many chances, and if they cross you path you should take them. And if Santana doesn't like it, that's her problem. But I think it's worth the risk." Quinn paused, looking Brittany in the eyes.

The blonde was confused. She knew Quinn was right, but she didn't want to get into a fight with Santana either. Sighing she licked her lips. "I don't know, Q. Santana's pretty important to me."

"So is cheerleading. You've been a cheerleader since freshman year. Are you really going to throw all those years away for one girl?"

"I'm not throwing anything away," Brittany protested. "I just... Like you said. It's a risk. And I'm not sure if I'm willing to take it. Not if it means I'll lose Santana."

Quinn pressed her hand down on Brittany's knee, and they locked eyes. "If Santana dumps you for something like that then she's not a real friend, Brittany. Sometimes... Sometimes you just have to dance with the devil to find out. You can't always play it safe."

"Are you calling Santana the devil?"

Quinn smiled a crooked smile. "No. It's a saying. Sometimes you just have to take the risk to find out."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"I know. Think about it for a while. I don't want you to do something you don't want to."

Brittany could see Quinn hesitating to add something, but the girl just bit her lip. After a minute of silence she sighed, leaning a bit into Brittany's upper body. "I'm glad I came to talk."

"Me too, Q. I'm glad we're friends again. I don't like fighting with you."

"Hm. I know."

* * *

Quinn pretty much stayed all evening, but they didn't discuss anything important anymore. They watched a movie and almost fell asleep. It wasn't until Brittany's mother came to look if they were still alive they realized how late it was. Quinn went home, and Brittany went to bed. She checked her phone, to check if Santana had texted back already. For a second she debated if she should tell the Latina about Quinn's visit, but then decided not to. After all, she hadn't answered any of her texts yet, so it probably meant she still didn't have her phone. And when she would read the messages, Brittany could also tell her in person. So she just send a _'Good night. –B' _, before putting her phone back on her nightstand. Thinking about Quinn's offer she fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning just felt like any other morning. That is, any other morning before she met Santana. Brittany got up, changed, ate a quick breakfast with her mom and Demi, and then left to pick up Quinn before school. There was no Santana Lopez involved – not physically anyway. She was always there in Brittany's mind. She was used to it by now.

While she waited in the car, Brittany pulled out her phone to check for messages. There had been one missed call from an unknown number. They had left a voicemail. She tapped her screen and put the phone to hear face. At first there was a computer-voice speaking, but then it suddenly switched to a whispering one. Santana. _"Hey, Britt-Britt. I'm sorry I'm calling in the middle of the night. My parents took away my phone, and I'm grounded so I can't go anywhere. I just wanted to tell you... I miss you. I know it's only been a couple of days, but I still miss you. Don't call this number back – my parents will know I called you. Oh shit, I hear something. I've got to go. Bye, Britt. I lo..." _and then the line was cut off.

Brittany's heart was beating so hard she felt like it could jump out of her chest. She clenched her eyes shut to stop the tears from falling, and she felt her lips curl up in the most dopey smile she'd ever shown. Santana had said she loved her. Or, she had started to say it. Brittany didn't even care the line got cut off before the Latina had been able to finish her sentence – it was clear she was saying "I love you".

Someone tapped on the window, harshly breaking Brittany's bubble of happiness. She wiped her face and unlocked the doors, letting Quinn step in the car. The blonde looked at her slightly skeptical. "Have you been crying? Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," Brittany stammered. "I'm great actually." She sucked on her bottom lip, and she saw herself smile again.

"Okay..." Quinn said, not seeming entirely convinced. But Brittany wasn't planning on telling Quinn anything about her relationship with Santana. She didn't like keeping secrets, but she didn't trust the blonde anymore when it came to stuff like this. She just shook her head. "I'm fine."

"If you say so..." Quinn frowned, and she shifted in her seat. "Have you thought about what I said? About my offer? To rejoin the Cheerios? I texted a bunch of people about it, and they all think it'd be great if you came back. They have nothing against _you_."

"I know," Brittany nodded. She was still smiling, and she just couldn't wipe the smile of her face. Not that she actually wanted to. She'd smile all day, even if her face would start to hurt. That wouldn't be anything compared to the joy she felt in her heart.

She nodded again. "I thought about it. I'll rejoin the Cheerios. I think Santana will understand." She wanted to add "she loves me", but swallowed the words. Instead she said, "I'll dance with the devil."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm sorry for the wait... I didn't really have any inspiration plus I have been really busy - if you follow me on Twitter, for which my username can be found on my profile page here - you would know that :) *hint hint*. Anyways... Sorry if this chapter is a bit weird and fast and stuff, but I just wanted to get it out there for you guys. Hopefully you all still like it. Also, please keep reviewing. It's a real motivation... and a lack of them is really not. I'm not begging, just telling you all how it is. I'll try to update again sooner, so you won't have to wait this long again... But I can't promise anything. Okay, enough with the talking. Have fun reading Chapter 19!**

* * *

Despite Santana's absence, the week went by fairly quickly. None of the Cheerios or Coach Sylvester said anything about Brittany's sudden return to the cheerleading squad, and they treated her just like they always had. And no one dared to say Santana's name. Brittany wondered what Quinn had said to them. She would probably never know, but it worked and that was all that counted.

Brittany loved being back in her Cheerios uniform. Sure, they weren't the comfiest clothes, but it felt good being back. Kind of like a comeback, but without the breakdown. People stepped away when she walked through the hallways of McKinley again, and she didn't have to look out for possible slushie-faces all the time. She hated to admit it, but without Santana, surviving high school was a lot easier. But she wouldn't choose this life, if she could also choose Santana.

Wednesday was the day of the dance competition. Brittany went – to support Mike and Tina. They won, of course, and Finn and Rachel ended last. Probably because Finn tripped and took down Rachel in his fall. She was furious. It was funny enough to take Brittany's ache away, but she was still really pissed at the Cheerios that hurt Santana. She was sure they would have won if they hadn't been forced to withdraw from the competition, and she blamed them.

On Saturday, Brittany finally got a text from Santana. _I finally got my phone back! Want to meet up? I've missed you. –S_

Brittany instantly felt a lot happier again, and she let her pen slip out of her fingers immediately. Running downstairs she rushed into her car, racing towards Lima Heights Adjacent. She hadn't been here in a week, and she almost took a wrong turn, only correcting herself in the last second. Luckily there weren't really a lot of cars around here, so she didn't cause any accidents.

Just seconds after she rang the bell next to Santana's front door, it opened. Santana's head peeked around the door, a smile appearing on her face. "You're fast."

Brittany shrugged one shoulder, rolling her eyes and letting a smile tug the right corner of her lips. "Your wish is my command. Although, not really. I guess this is my wish, too. I've missed you too."

Santana stretched her arm in front of her, grabbing Brittany's wrist. "It's cold outside." She pulled the girl inside, almost immediately pushing her up against the wall next to the front door. For a second, Brittany was caught by surprise but when Santana's lips touched hers she was lost. She had been expecting a lot when she drove here, but not for Santana to kiss her like that. After a moment, she started kissing back, lifting one hand to cup Santana's cheek. With her other hand she pulled the Latina closer to her body, until their chests and stomachs touched. About a minute or so they were just kissing. Then, Santana pulled away about one centimeter, looking Brittany in the eye. "I _really_ missed you."

Brittany started saying it back, but then she was being pulled upstairs. Again, she was surprised at the speed Santana was moving. It was like she _hungry_ or something. Not that she minded helping the girl with that problem. It was just all going a little bit too fast. Brittany's head was spinning, and she wasn't sure why. It could be both Santana's body – which looked _completely_ hot – or the confusion that was building up inside her head. Last week Santana had been all weird and defensive, and right now she was basically undressing her with her eyes. No, wait. She _was_ undressing her. Just not with her eyes.

Santana's touch was cold to Brittany's stomach, and she felt goose bumps appear on her skin. But with Santana being all... _hungry_ and all, she couldn't really think straight. All she knew was that they were about to have sex. And strangely enough, that hadn't been what Brittany had been looking forward to about seeing Santana again. Not that she didn't _want_ to have sex with her, it just didn't feel like a priority this time. Maybe it was all part of the being-in-love thing. After all, she had never really been _in love_ with someone before. She just liked people. And they liked her back. So they slept together. But with Santana it felt differently. It _was_ differently. "S-Santana... Are you sure you're up for this? I mean it's only been like five minutes since –"

But Santana interrupted her by pushing Brittany, forcing her to lay on her back on Santana's bed. She felt Santana's lips press against hers, and while the girl started unbuttoning her own pants, she never let go of that touch.

Brittany turned her head, looking away. Santana sat up, and Brittany became highly aware of her ass sitting on her legs. Feeling highly distracted, she shifted and pushed herself up. Leaning on her elbows she looked at the Latina. "Don't get me wrong. I love doing... _stuff_ with you. I'm just not sure it's the first thing we have to do after a week of not seeing each other."

Santana cocked an eyebrow, but aside from that her expression didn't change. She slowed her movements down, letting her hands fall from her now unbuttoned pants. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I, uh..." Brittany mumbled, desperately trying not to get distracted by Santana's half-undressed body. Her blouse and pants were unbuttoned, hanging open. It showed her matching underwear, and the tanned skin of her stomach. Her perfectly formed stomach, that is. Brittany swallowed. "This relationship is really confusing for me."

Now Santana definitely moved. Or rather, she shot up. Just seconds after Brittany had spoken, Santana was halfway across the room, readjusting her clothes. There was a look in her eyes Brittany didn't really like. She didn't really like the whole attitude of the Latina's body, really. When Santana had re-buttoned her pants, she looked up again, a strange expression on her face. "We're not in _any_ relationship."

"I know that, but..."

"No buts. We're nothing. Friends, sure. But we're not lovers or anything like that. You are _not_ my girlfriend." Santana was breathing heavily now, her eyes darting the room restlessly. There was definitely tension between them now. Brittany sighed, closing her eyes for less than a second. When she opened them again, Santana was slipping on an oversized hoodie, which messed up her hair. While she fixed it, she looked at Brittany in the mirror, obviously waiting for her to answer.

But the blonde took her time. She had to think this through very carefully, to make sure she didn't say anything that would upset Santana even more. She hadn't wanted to do that in the first place, but her feelings for the Latina had been there for a while now, and the whole week had revolved around it. Liking Santana – loving her. Missing her. Everything seemed to be about Santana these days, and she wanted the girl to know that. "I know that we aren't _girlfriends_, but I'm confused about what we _are_."

Santana sighed, turning around. "What are you trying to say, exactly?

"That I'm confused..." Brittany answered, starting to feel a bit lost in the conversation. Santana was being really weird. Sex was okay, but talking about it wasn't? "I've just never had a friend I also hooked up with. Or, yeah, I did. But they were never a girl. And they were never this weird about it."

"I'm not weird."

"Yes, you are. And that's totally okay! I'd be weird if I were you, too. Because then I'd be you, and you'd be me so –"

"Brittany. Get to the point." Santana ran a hand through her hair, still looking at Brittany. A frown had appeared between her eyebrows, and while the look in her eyes had somewhat softened, everything else about her seemed to be even more tense than a few seconds ago.

"Right," Brittany nodded a bit flustered. She had really no idea what she was doing right now. Part of her just wished she had never brought it up, but she was also glad she had. Confusion was something she dealt with everyday, except when she was with Santana. But now even that safe haven seemed to have disappeared. "I guess... I think you've answered my question already. Never mind."

"No. I can see this is bothering you. I'll... Just... shoot. Get it off your mind." Santana walked back to the bed, sitting down. She was still about half a meter away from Brittany, but it was better than the meters that had been between them before.

The blonde's eyes narrowed for a second, before she nodded. "Okay. It's just that you seem fine with just sex, but when it comes to more, you back out." She lowered her gaze, playing a bit with the comforter on Santana's bed. She tried not to look at the Latina, but when an answer didn't come she couldn't help herself. Santana was biting her lip, also looking down. She seemed to be looking for words to say, but at the same time it was just like she wasn't _really_ willing to answer.

"I know you've been through a lot," Brittany continued, "but I also thought you were okay with who you were. The only reason you were hiding all the awesomeness that you are was because you were afraid of being bullied again. And once you were – bullied, I mean – you were also completely open about yourself. So I thought it might be okay for us to talk about... what is going on between us."

"Nothing's going on," Santana quickly said, before sucking her bottom lip. She lifted her hand, pressing it to her forehead. Then, she made a quick movement and sighed. "Okay. Never mind. I'm not going to do this. Your confusion is not my problem. _You_ are not even my problem. I know that sounds harsh, but you're really not. You're right about the bullying part, but just because I'm open and proud about who I am, doesn't mean I automatically like to label stuff. Unless when it's on something I shoplift. Ugh. Look, what I'm trying to say is... I'm not interested in any labels. I don't care if you call it just sex, or friends with benefits or anything, but _I_ don't call it at all. So hook up with me, or just go."

The rapid pace at which Santana spoke was too quickly to let her words really sink in, but Brittany did understand the last part. This wasn't what she'd been expecting when she got the text, just about an hour ago. She didn't really know what she _had_ been expecting, but this felt a lot like a fight. Both of them were saying the first things that came to their minds, not really minding if it was hurting the other. And if there was one thing Brittany despised it was violence – even if it was just verbally. So she started fixing her clothes, and stepped off the bed. Without saying any more words, she locked eyes with Santana. The two stared at each other for a few seconds, before Brittany broke their eye-contact. She turned around, walking to the door of Santana's bedroom. Her lips formed the words, "I'm done," but there wasn't any sound. She just felt numb, like everything was happening in slow-motion. Like it wasn't even really happening at all.

She got to the front porch, before she felt a hand wrap around her wrist, forcing her to turn around. As she did, her eyes met Santana's dark brown ones, and she blinked a few times, slowly.

"Don't... Don't go. Please. We can talk about this."

Brittany swallowed. "I thought you didn't _want_ to talk about it. You've made yourself pretty clear, Santana."

"I changed my mind. I didn't think you'd actually walk away from me."

"What's that supposed to mean? That I'm some sort of slave of yours? I'm eighteen, Santana. I can make my own decisions."

Santana bit her lip.

"Besides. There's nothing left to say. You've said it all. We're _nothing_. Or is that too much of a label for you?"

"Brittany... Don't do this. This is not the Brittany I know." Santana's voice was starting to sound desperate now, but Brittany knew she had to be strong in order to finish saying what she had on her mind. "I know. And do you know the worst part? This is _exactly_ the Santana I know."

Silence.

"The Santana I fell in love with."


	20. Chapter 20

"What did you just say?" Santana's eyes were widened, and her hand was squeezing Brittany's wrist really tightly. She was probably not even noticing it, too distracted with what the blonde had just said. And strangely enough, Brittany didn't even care. She just wanted to finish her lines. "I'm in love with you. And I know you are in love with me, too. You said it on the voicemail. I know you didn't finish your sentence, but there's only so many things that start with 'I lo' and I love you is one of them. I'm not stupid – not always that is. But it wasn't just that. It was _everything_ about that message. If we were 'just friends' you would have never called me in the middle of the night just to tell me you missed me. If we were just friends you would have known I knew that already, because I was missing you, too. But you _told_ me you missed me, and you didn't mean my body. You meant _me_. You wanted to _reassure_ me that you missed me, that you didn't forget about me. And, I also know when you're lying to me. I guess I'm just good at reading people. _Especially _when they feel exactly the same way about me as I feel about them."

Brittany had spoken so quickly she was gasping for air by the time she was done. Her eyes lowered, looking at Santana's fingers still wrapped around her wrist. She liked that. She liked when Santana touched her. Any part of her, really. As long as she got that electrical feeling out of it, she was content. But right now, it didn't feel like electrics anymore. More like fire. Her skin was burning where Santana was holding her, highly aware of the words that had just been said. She looked up again, at Santana's face. It was blank. Literally no emotion was showing, not even in the chocolate brown eyes Brittany loved so much. Had she misread everything? Did Santana _not_ feel the same about her? Suddenly she was scared that she had just made everything up in her mind. She did that sometimes, and sometimes people would yell at her for it. Swallowing hard, she pulled her hand from Santana's. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, turning around. Maybe it was best if she just left.

Her shoulders were drooping a bit when she walked back to her car. She had really screwed this all up. There was no way Santana would want to be her friend again. Stretching her arms in front of her she leaned against the car, her back facing Santana. "Stupid," she muttered to herself. "Stupid Brittany. _Stupid_." And suddenly her hand lifted, slamming against the car furiously. She felt tears burn in her eyes, spill over her cheeks and drip down her chin. She felt the way her hand was starting to burn from hitting the car so hard, so often. She heard herself mutter the same word over and over again, clenching and relaxing her jaw. And then she felt a hand on her shoulder. It slipped to her forearm, applying pressure to keep it still. Someone swallowed behind her, and Brittany turned around, slowly. Her eyes locked with Santana's, who was blinking rapidly. There were tears in her eyes too. Her thumb ran over Brittany's cheek, wiping away the tears. Santana's eyebrows raised, and she bit her lip. "You're right." Her voice was soft, and a little but husky. Thick with tears, even. "You're always right."

* * *

Brittany felt Santana tug her arm, which pulled her out of her thoughts. Santana squeezed her hand, leaning her head on Brittany's shoulder. "Were you listening to me?"

"No," Brittany confessed. "Not really... I'm sorry." She bit her lip, leaning into Santana a bit more. For some reason she had let the Latina convince her to take a walk with her in the woods, so that was what they had been doing for the past hour now. Sometimes they were talking, but more often they weren't. Just walking, holding hands and not minding anything but each other. Brittany never thought she would ever like hiking, but right now it felt like the best thing ever. "What were you talking about?"

Santana's expression had changed slightly, and she pulled one arm free to wrap it around her ribcage. Her voice sounded tense when she answered. "Nothing important."

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked, suddenly worried. They had been walking for quite a while now, and she didn't really know much about bruised ribs or anything, but they couldn't have healed already. She hadn't taken the bandage off yet either. Brittany vaguely remembered it being there a few hours ago, but she had been too distracted by everything else to really focus on it. Besides, it was something she was used to seeing by now.

Santana swallowed, nodding. "Yeah."

"Do you want to sit down?"

A few seconds passed. Then Santana nodded again. "Yeah."

"Okay. I think I saw a bench a couple minutes back." Brittany let go of Santana's hand, before literally sweeping the Latina off her feet. Santana shrieked, waving her hands in the air. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Carrying you to the bench. No. No objections. You've been walking for the past whatever and now you need to rest." Brittany put on her strictest face, cocking one eyebrow. When the other girl didn't object anymore she leaned, catching her lips between her own. Santana wrapped her arms around Brittany's neck in response, lazily kissing back. Her eyes fluttered closed, but Brittany had to keep them open to keep herself from walking into a tree. It didn't help much, as she almost walked into some bushes twice before finally reaching the bench she'd been looking for. Carefully putting Santana down she sat next to the girl, grabbing one of her hands in both of her own. She slowly ran her thumb over the back of Santana's hand, pulling her a bit closer. "What are you all smiley about?"

Santana shook her head, avoiding Brittany's curious gaze. She sucked on her bottom lip shyly, which made Brittany's insides go all woozy. She raised her eyebrows, nudging Santana's knee softly. "Please, tell me." She pouted, pretending to almost burst into tears. Santana laughed, rolling her eyes. "Okay, but only because you're being all kinds of adorable right now." She sighed, looking at their conjoint hands. "I was just remembering that one day after Cheerios practice and I was exhausted and you carried me to your car and drove me home."

Brittany had to think about that for a second, narrowing her eyes. "You remember that?"

"Of course," Santana smiled. Then she looked away again. "It's when I fell in love."

"Wait," Brittany said. "You fell in love with me _ages ago_ because I carried a really sweaty and stinky Santana to my car? That's mad."

Santana shrugged shyly. "It's not like I did that on purpose. I just remember thinking you were really sweet for doing that, and after that I was a lost cause."

Brittany pursed her lips. "So basically you were in love with me before I was in love with you? That's new."

Santana smiled again, leaning her head on Brittany's shoulder. "I guess so."

"Well," Brittany mumbled, wrapping one arm around Santana's body. "At least we're together now."

The Latina sighed against the fabric, and Brittany felt her lips curl up. "Yeah. We are."

* * *

Brittany wasn't sure how long they had been sitting there. After a while Santana had fallen asleep on her shoulder, and her face had been released from it's painful expression. She looked so peaceful Brittany didn't have the strength to wake her up. They didn't have anywhere to be anyway.

After a while though, twilight started to set in, and they had to get going. Brittany gently shook Santana's shoulder, and the Latina's eyes fluttered open. "W-what? Did I fall asleep?"

"You did," Brittany whispered, lovingly. She loved the way there was a slight panic in Santana's eyes when she realized it hadn't just been a few minutes. "Did you let me sleep the whole time?" she exclaimed, shooting up. "I'm _so_ sorry!"

"Don't be sorry. You are adorable when you sleep." Brittany pushed herself off the bench, wrapping her arms around Santana's waist. She wanted to kiss her. So she leaned in, pressing her lips firmly against the Latina's. After less than a second, Santana started to kiss back. Brittany let her tongue run over Santana's lips, and the girl parted them slightly. For a while they stood there, just kissing. There was nothing erotic about it, and they weren't giggling. After a minute or so Brittany started pulling back. Her eyebrows knit together. "We _really _have to get back, before it's so dark we'll get lost."

"Yes, ma'am," Santana grinned. She grabbed Brittany's hand and pulled it over her shoulder, holding it with her own. Brittany liked that. So she kept her arm there, putting her free hand in the pocket of her jacket.

It took them a while to get back to the car, and by the time they got back into Lima the sky was really dark. Brittany was about to take a left turn, on her way to drop Santana off at her place, but the Latina's voice stopped her. "No, go straight. I want to show you something."

Without asking questions, Brittany obeyed. She was naturally a curious person, and she really wanted to know where Santana was taking her. It couldn't be some place she'd never seen before – after all, _she _had lived here all her life, while Santana had just moved here a few months ago. But even if it was a place she knew, she trusted her instincts – and they told her it was going to be perfect no matter what. And they were right, like always.

A couple minutes later, she realized where this was going. "Are you –"

"–Taking you on a date," Santana finished the sentence. She nodded. A slightly insecure smile tugged her lips. "Is that okay?"

"Y-yes," Brittany stammered. For some reason she hadn't been expecting this. Just because she was in love with Santana – and Santana was in love with her too – didn't mean they would have to start dating. It was a logical next step, of course, but when it came to Santana, Brittany never really know what to expect. But apparently Santana didn't want to waste any more time on lingering in the past, being afraid of what other people thought of her. Otherwise she would never take Brittany on a date. "Very."

Santana's smile widened. "Thank god. I was afraid you weren't going to like it."

"Of course I'll like it. I'll love it. Just being with you is enough for me, you know," Brittany blurted out, carefully eyeing Santana. The girl's smile just grew, and she looked over at the blonde. Their hands touched, and Santana wrapped her fingers around Brittany's. If she didn't pay attention, Brittany would _drown_ in the dark brown that were Santana's eyes.

The Latina cleared her throat. "I love you, Brittany. I just realized I hadn't said it back yet, which is stupid because you said it first. Well, practically I said it first, but I never finished that sentence... And now you've said it too, I figured I have nothing left to lose. So yeah, I love you." She grinned. "God, that feels good. I just want to keep saying it now that's it's finally out in the open."

Brittany just stared. There were so many thoughts running through her mind. So many things she wanted to tell Santana. She tried to pick one, but it was _so _hard. She wanted to say _everything_ right at this moment. But nothing was powerful enough to describe what she was feeling. Not now.

Santana's hand squeezed hers, pulling her back into reality. "Say something... please?"

Brittany pulled the car over in the parking lot. She turned her body a little to the right, so she was facing Santana. Despite the darkness she could see her face, and her eyes. Her lips. Brittany leaned in, her lips touching Santana's for a brief second. Then, she pulled back. Slowly opening her eyes she leaned her forehead against the Latina's. "I love you, too."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: I'm sorry this chapter is a bit short, but it just felt finished. :) And thanks for the reviews, guys! I know I'm not updating as often as I used to, but I hope you still enjoy reading DWTD! :D**

* * *

Two days later Brittany woke up alone. She instantly missed the warmth of Santana's body snuggled up against her own. No, actually she had been missing it the whole night already. Being fast asleep and all she just hadn't realized it yet. She felt around for a bit, still hoping it wasn't Monday, and Santana wasn't at her own place. Disappointed when that didn't happen she stared up at the ceiling. Next to her head, her phone vibrated and she looked up. Turning to her side she reached for the phone, unlocking its screen with a simple swipe of her thumb. A message popped up and while she read it, she felt a smile tug her lips. _Good morning, beautiful. I've missed you… –S_

After sending back a quick reply, similar to Santana's text, she got up. She threw her phone back on the bed, walking over to her closet. Her face fell when she saw the Cheerios uniform hanging there, ready to be put on. She still hadn't told Santana about rejoining the cheerleading squad, and she honestly had no idea how the Latina was going to react. There was the option she was hoping for – Santana wouldn't care and all would be good – but there was also one she didn't want to think about. Maybe she immediately should have told Santana the moment they saw each other again last Saturday. Or maybe she shouldn't have let Quinn convince her in rejoining at all.

No. That wasn't how Brittany wanted to live her life. She wanted to be able to make her own decisions, and Quinn was right – if Santana didn't respect that then maybe she wasn't the girl Brittany thought she was. But at the same time, she didn't want to lose Santana. Not now she finally got her.

Brittany sighed. She didn't really have much of a choice, actually. They were required to wear their uniforms at all time, and if she refused to do so, she'd probably get kicked off the team. And knowing Sue Sylvester, she didn't want to risk anything. She put on her uniform, reaching back for the zipper when her phone vibrated again. Turning on her heels she quickly pulled the zipper up, and walked back to her bed. Grabbing the phone she read the incoming text message. Her heart sank. It wasn't from Santana, but from Quinn. _Are you still coming to pick me up? With Santana going back to school and stuff… –Q_

Another thing Brittany had tried not to think about too much during the weekend. There was no way Santana was going to forgive Quinn for about everything that she'd done. Or rather, hadn't done. All three of them knew Quinn could've done something to stop the bullying, but she chose not to. And as far as Brittany knew, Santana wasn't really a forgiving person like herself. Chewing her lip she tapped the screen. _I don't know… I don't want to upset Santana. –B_

It took Quinn a few minutes to reply, and by then Brittany was eating cereal. Ignoring Demi's curious glares she opened the message. _I understand. I'll see you at school, then. –Q_

Brittany frowned. That didn't sound like Quinn at all. Then she shrugged. It didn't really matter if Quinn was being herself or not. What mattered was that she seemed to be understanding – or trying to be. Which was always better than not at all. _Okay. See you at school! –B_

* * *

Thirty minutes later Brittany pulled over in Santana's driveway. She had a nervous feeling in her stomach, but she tried to ignore it the best she could. Playing with the pleats of her cheerleading skirt she eyed Santana's front door. Was she early? She checked the time on her phone. No, she was perfectly in time. Her eyes were glued to the door, and just when she thought Santana wasn't going to come, it opened. Brittany pulled out her phone again, finding out she had been waiting exactly two minutes since she last checked.

Santana tapped the window three times, and Brittany unlocked the door. Santana opened it, stepping in the car. "Hey, Britt. I'm sorry I'm late, I was just –" and then she stopped talking. Her eyes went up and down Brittany's body, but never looking at Brittany's face. She showed no expression, at all. She just looked. And then got out of the car again.

Brittany's shoulders drooped, and she unsuccessfully tried to suppress a sigh. Looking out of the front window she saw how Santana started to walk in the direction of McKinley, not even acknowledging Brittany's presence. The blonde pressed her lips into a tight line, starting the engine. She drove slowly, opening the window of the passenger's seat. Leaning towards the opening a bit she looked at Santana. "Please, get in the car. We're going to be late at this pace."

Santana's face hardened, like she was fighting back tears. It broke Brittany's heart seeing the girl like this, especially because she was the one who caused it. She blinked a few tears away, trying again. "Come on, Santana. Can we talk about this? Please?"

Santana moved, and for a second Brittany thought she was going to do as she asked. But instead the Latina pulled out her phone, and she pretended to be texting. Brittany cringed, sitting back in her seat. She'd rather have Santana yelling at her. She'd rather hear Santana calling her names and go out of her mind from anger than this. Before today, Brittany had never understood why people said it was worse to be ignored than to be yelled at. When people were ignoring you, they couldn't hurt you with vicious words, so it couldn't hurt _that_ bad. Right? So why did it?

Brittany wanted to stop the car and get out. She wanted to grab Santana by the shoulders, look right in her eyes and tell her she was exaggerating. Yes, she rejoined the Cheerios, but if Santana was a good friend she'd be happy for her. And hell, she was so much more than just a friend. They hadn't made anything official yet, but they had been on a date and they were in love. Brittany didn't see why they wouldn't be dating now, but she also didn't want to move too fast. Although right now, they were moving too slow. She couldn't wait forever. Looking at Santana again she tried one more time. "I'm sorry, okay? I should've told you earlier. Don't be mad, please. We can talk about this. Just let me explain..."

Now Santana definitely heard her. She licked her lips, sucking in air. For a moment she stood completely still, then she shook her head and started walking again.

Brittany looked at her. She bit her lip. She blinked a few times. She held back tears. And then she stepped on the gas.

The day went by in a blur. Immediately when Brittany stepped into the building Quinn materialized at her side, and stayed there for the rest of the day. They didn't speak while Quinn guided Brittany to her classes, and for the first time in her life, Brittany felt like she didn't have to explain herself to Quinn. Maybe she was a good friend after all.

After a full day of avoiding Santana – and being avoided by Santana – Brittany was surprised to see the Latina sitting on the bleachers during Cheerios practice. For the rest of the hour she was completely distracted, and messed up several routines. Coach Sylvester got pissed at her, and some of the Cheerios too. They didn't say anything, though. They just shot her angry glares, and those were easy to ignore. When practice was over and Coach shouted, "Hit the showers," Brittany walked lingered in the gym. Her eyes met Santana's, and she stepped a bit closer. Her lips parted slightly as she tried to find words to say, but she was empty. Just minutes ago she had a whole speech prepared, with words ready to come out. But now she was actually getting the chance, she didn't know what to say. She just stood there, watching Santana, hoping she would say something.

Brittany wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there when finally something changed. Just not in the good way. Santana got up, looked at Brittany for a moment longer, and then left the gym without a word. Brittany felt like she could burst into tears at any moment. She swallowed, fighting back tears.

Another minute or so later, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Knowing better than to hope for it being Santana she turned around, only to be disappointed again. It was Quinn. She grabbed Brittany's wrist, pulling her towards the bleachers. Pushing Brittany's shoulders she forced the girl to sit down, and even though her legs were stiff from standing, she obeyed.

Quinn pursed her lips. "I think it's safe to assume she didn't take it well?"

Brittany shook her head. "She didn't even say a word. She just looked at me, got out of the car and now she's ignoring me."

"She came to watch us practice," Quinn said. So she had noticed it too. Then she must've known why Brittany was so unfocused, which was probably why she hadn't said anything about it yet. She narrowed her eyes for a split second. "Brittany... Can I ask you something?"

A bit surprised Brittany looked up. "Um... sure?"

"A while ago you told me you thought you might be having feelings for someone... a girl. Is that girl Santana?" Quinn bit her lip, looking down at her hands when she finished the question.

For a second, Brittany didn't know what to say. Then she realized it wouldn't affect Santana in any way if she told Quinn the truth, so she just went for it. "I – yeah."

"Cool," Quinn almost immediately replied. "And she likes you back?"

Now this was tricky. Brittany didn't know what she could or couldn't say about her and Santana. On the other hand, it seemed like they were in a fight. Besides, everyone knew Santana was a lesbian already, so there wasn't much outing involved. "I think so?"

"Are you two dating?"

"I don't know. Can we not talk about Santana right now? I'd like to talk _to_ her first," Brittany answered, chewing her lip.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Quinn frowned. She was obviously still curious, but Brittany wasn't really in the mood to answer all of her questions. She couldn't help but feel like Quinn's sudden interest wasn't to help her. It would probably take a while before her trust in the blonde would be restored. Not that she wanted it that way, but it was just really hard to trust someone who'd hurt the girl she loved the way she had. And because she hurt Santana, she hurt Brittany as well. Quinn probably knew that, though. She was really smart. Well, most of the time.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Hey guys, chapter 22 is here! There will be one more chapter after this, and then the story will be over. It was really fun to write, so I'm going to work on chapter 23 right away! I can't promise you anything about when it will be published, but I'll try to get it up as soon as possible. Also, as you may or may not have noticed, both my Tumblr URL and my Twitter username are now changed. **

**Tumblr: psychicmexicanthird-eye . tumblr . com  
Twitter: nayasgiraffe**

**You can follow me if you like. You can also follow me if you don't like. Either is fine. Anyways, here is chapter 22. Enjoy!**

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As soon as Coach Sylvester shouted, "Hit the showers," Brittany looked at the bleachers. Santana was still there. In fact, she had been there for three days, always silently watching the Cheerios practice their routines. Only to disappear whenever it ended. Brittany wasn't sure why she did that. She was glad though, that she still got to see the Latina. They hadn't spoken yet, and apart from Cheerios practice they hadn't seen each other either. It was starting to bug the blonde, not knowing where she was standing right now. Maybe Santana didn't know either, which would explain why she refused to talk about it. That was just a theory, though.

Brittany had tried talking to other people about it. According to Mike she should let it rest, give Santana some time to think about it. She was trying that, but it was really hard to keep up with. Every cell in her body wanted to talk to Santana. Touch her, even. Her body was telling her to _be_ with Santana, and Brittany found that very hard to ignore.

Quinn said Santana was being a bad friend, ignoring her like that. She told Brittany to dump the Latina and just forget about her. It wouldn't work out anyway. They were too different to be in an actual relationship. But Brittany couldn't forget about her, so dumping clearly wasn't an option.

Demi wasn't really serious about all of it. First she wanted to know everything about Santana and then she wanted to meet her. Apparently she didn't take no for an answer, because when Brittany refused to take her she got up and left the room without saying a word.

Even Miss Pillsbury didn't know the answer to Brittany's problem. But then again, she had never been really useful. Most of the time she just nervously started to clean her office, even though it was the cleanest place in the school already. And then she dismissed it by saying Santana would come by on her own eventually. So Brittany thanked the woman for her advice and quickly made her way out of the office as fast as she could. The extreme tidiness made her feel uncomfortable.

And then there was just one person left to talk to. Her mom. Brittany had felt a bit nervous when she approached her, but it turned out not to be necessary at all. Susan Pierce was a lovely woman, and occasionally very wise too. She had passed these qualities on to Brittany, and so they were very alike. She didn't show any sign of surprise or disgust when Brittany told her about Santana, and about her feelings _for_ Santana. Instead she just told her daughter to try and talk to Santana about it. Even though she clearly didn't want that, it was the only way for Brittany to find out why the girl was acting the way she was.

So that was what Brittany was going to do. She moved quickly towards the bleachers, stepping in front of Santana before she could leave. "We need to talk."

Santana showed very little emotion, looking up at the blonde standing before her. She swallowed, running her tongue over her full lips. Trying to walk past Brittany she replied, "No, we don't."

Losing her patience, Brittany grabbed Santana's upper arm, pulling her an inch closer to her body. "Yes," she breathed. "We do."

She had always been fairly strong, so there was no way Santana could make her escape this time. The Latina seemed to realize that herself too, tensing up even more under Brittany's touch. She bit her lip, letting the blonde pull her down the bleachers.

Sitting down, Brittany gestured at Santana to do the same. As they both sat on the bench, Brittany looked at the Latina. She looked tired. Weary, even. Like she hadn't gotten enough sleep and worried too much. Maybe she had. Brittany had. It wouldn't surprise her, really. Knowing how much time Santana spend thinking about things... She looked again. Santana pushed a few hairs out of her face. Her eyes were settled on the floor, as if it was extremely interesting. She was clearly avoiding Brittany's gaze.

The blonde started playing with the pleads of her Cheerios skirt nervously, until she realized it would probably only make everything more awkward and uncomfortable. She stopped, looking up at Santana again. "I-I'm sorry, Santana."

"Sorry for what?" Santana said, seeming oddly calm. "For rejoining the Cheerios or not telling me about it?" But there was some sort of edge to her voice, which freaked Brittany out. It was the edge Santana saved for people like Sasha and Quinn. The one that made Brittany feel stupid.

She swallowed. "B-both, I guess. I never meant to hurt you."

"Like Quinn never meant to hurt me?" Santana scoffed. "You could've thought about that earlier. _Before_ you went back to playing her minion." There was a slight disgust in her eyes when she looked at Brittany. At the Cheerios uniform she was wearing. It hurt Brittany more than it probably should. She felt like she was being judged for being on the Cheerios. Which she probably was.

Not knowing what to say she looked down at her hands that were resting on her lap. Pulling up one shoulder in a half shrug she tried to concentrate on her breathing. What had she expected? Santana to suddenly forgive her and fall back into her arms? Of course not. She should've known better. This was _Santana_. She wasn't half as forgiving as Brittany. Nobody was as forgiving as Brittany, though.

"And you know what's worse?" Santana continued, throwing her hands up in the air. She wasn't as calm anymore now, and her voice was higher than usual. "I really thought you were different. And I know that sounds really _fucking _cliché but it's true! When you gave up your spot in the squad... But now you're just one of them." She got up from the bench, taking a few steps before turning around again. "I _trusted_ you, Brittany. I trusted you, and you threw it all away! Do you know how hard it is for me to trust _anyone_?"

Brittany didn't know what to say. She knew all of that already, and she knew she had blown it. She knew it all, and she still made those stupid mistakes. She hated herself for it, and it hurt even more to know that Santana hated her for it too. But she also knew that if she had the chance to change it, she wouldn't. Because she loved being on the Cheerios. After glee club is was her favorite part of high school. She had been impulsive to give it up for Santana, and she had regretted that for as long as she hadn't been on the squad. But how could she tell Santana that? For her 'Cheerios' was a synonym for 'bullies' and she had every right to think so. Brittany wasn't a bully, though, and Santana knew that. That was the problem. They were both right – and wrong. There was no solution for this that would make them both happy. She didn't want to quit Cheerios, and Santana... She didn't know what Santana wanted her to do.

"Look, Santana. I know I hurt you by rejoining the Cheerios, but it had nothing to do with you. I left because I didn't want you to feel alone, but it made me unhappy. So if _you_ care for _me_ you'd let me stay on the squad. We can still hang out and stuff. I'm not one of those people who cares so much about popularity that I don't want anything to do with people who aren't cheerleaders or jocks. I mean, I'm part of glee club so that would be a bit weird." She frowned, looking up at Santana. "I'm sorry for hurting your feelings, but being a bully isn't infectious. I'm still me. Just not in street clothes."

For the first time in days, Santana looked directly at her. Their eyes locked, and Santana walked back to the bench. She sat down again, swallowing hard. Her eyes lowered, and she leaned in. Before Brittany fully realized what was going on, she felt Santana's lips touch hers. The kiss was different from all other kisses. Santana's lips were somewhat dry, and she pressed her forehead against Brittany's. Her hand cupped her face, and the other one moved towards the back of her neck, pulling Brittany closer. Surprised at first, Brittany held her eyes open, and she caught a glimpse of Santana's face. The Latina had her eyes clenched shut, and her eyelashes were wet. Was she crying?

Brittany pressed her thumb against Santana's cheek, wiping away the tears that ran down. And she kissed back. Closing her eyes she pressed herself against Santana, feeling her own eyes fill with tears. She didn't even know why she cried. Because Santana and she had been fighting? Because there was just no way the both of them would get what they wanted? Because she finally felt Santana's lips against hers again? Probably all of the above.

When her lips parted slightly, Santana slipped her tongue inside. It felt strange, wet, and well-known at the first time. Kissing Santana made no sense. It made no sense that someone like her would like someone like Brittany. It made no sense that they were both crying during the kiss. It made no sense it felt _this_ good to be close to the Latina. And at the same time, it was the only thing in the world that made sense. It just felt _so _right that Brittany knew she never wanted to kiss anyone else besides Santana. She didn't want to _do_ anything besides kiss Santana. Because suddenly everything seemed right again.

* * *

Brittany felt her heart beat in her chest when Santana's weight pushed her down on the bed. Or Santana's heart. She didn't really know. They were pressed together so tightly that she didn't know which parts belong to who. Santana's naked body against hers was driving her crazy, and not just her heart. So when Santana pressed her knee down between her thighs, Brittany didn't hesitate for a second. She spread her legs and felt Santana's hand press against her throbbing center. She gasped at the touch. Her eyes widened when Santana entered her slowly, pushing two fingers inside. It was tight, but it fit. She felt Santana's thumb circle her clit, causing the slowly building tension to grow and grow.

For Brittany, sex was something she just did. She never understood why some people made such a big deal out of it. Why would people want to stay a virgin as long as possible if the alternative was even better? Why were some people afraid of exposing themselves to others? It wasn't like having sex could kill you or anything. If you were lucky enough to have the right person it was great, actually. She herself had lost her virginity during cheerleading camp the summer between freshman and sophomore year. And she had thought she was one of the latest, so she was very surprised to find out her friends from glee club were all still a virgin – well except the jocks of course.

But sex with Santana was totally different. It had something all those other times lacked. She actually _felt_ something that wasn't purely physical. It made it all better. If she could bottle all these feelings she had right now, it would be the cure to every disease in the world. She was sure of it. She never wanted it to stop. And then Santana hit a sensitive spot somewhere inside of her and her body arched and tensed, trapping Santana's fingers. But she kept on moving, in and out. In and out. In. And out. A moan escaped from Brittany's throat, which combined with Santana's name sounded really strangely. "So good, S-Santana," she mumbled, unable to really speak clearly. Finally Santana slowed down, slowly pulling her fingers out of Brittany. She pressed her lips against Brittany's neck, breathing out. Her warm breath caused goose bumps on Brittany's skin and the blonde lay completely still for a while. She held her eyes closed when she felt Santana roll off her, one arm still resting on Brittany's stomach. As both their breathing started leveling again, Brittany opened her eyes. Santana was hugging her tightly, her face buried in her neck with her eyes closed. Was she sleeping? Brittany decided it didn't matter. She wrapper her arms around Santana's body, pressed her face against the dark hair and closed her eyes again, drifting off to sleep almost immediately.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Hey guys. So, here it is. The last chapter of Dance With The Devil. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I want to thank you all for your support and reviews and alerts and favorites and tweets and everything you send me. I highly appreciate it. I will certainly not stop writing, although I am not sure when and/or if a new story will be published. I'll try my best, but please let me remind you that I write for myself rather than for you, even though I really enjoy hearing your opinions. But writing is supposed to be fun, so if you are writing just because your readers want you to... Please take time to rethink as to why you're doing it. Also, I want to thank J (at NayaGermany on Twitter) for being my biggest supporter and a great friend. She's been there from day one, and she's been supportive of me ****_all the time_****. J, I love you. :)**

**Anyway, without any further ado, here is the final chapter of Dance With The Devil. Enjoy!**

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It was around 10am when Brittany's phone vibrated on her night stand. She rolled over, picking it up. Looking at the caller ID she smiled, answering the call. "Hey, stranger."

Her smile widened when she heard Santana's voice singing before actually saying something. _"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Brittany, happy birthday to you."_ She laughed. "Happy birthday, sweetheart."

Brittany's face screwed up when she crunched it, covering her mouth with her hand to stop herself from squealing. "I love you so much, Santana!"

"I love you too," Santana smiled, before sounding a bit impatient. "Can you answer your front door, by the way? I'm getting cold out here."

Brittany shot up, rushing towards her window. She peeked her head around the glass, seeing Santana sit on the front porch. She held her phone pressed against her ear, and looked up when Brittany yelled her name. Without a word she hung up the phone, getting up. Waving her hand in the air she gestured at Brittany to open the door, and the blonde pulled her head back. Throwing her phone on her bed she ran down the stairs, throwing the door open. A bit too quick maybe, because she tumbled over and literally fell into Santana's arms. The Latina laughed, pushing her girlfriend back up and kissing her softly on the lips. They stood there for a while, just kissing. After a few minutes Santana pulled away. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Happy birthday."

"You said that already."

Santana narrowed her eyes. "I can say it again if I want to."

"I'd rather hear you say other things," Brittany teased. She unwrapped her arms from around Santana, grabbing her hand instead. She pulled the Latina up to her room, pulling her to the bed. Playing with the buttons on Santana's shirt she walked backwards, but Santana stopped her hands from moving. "No, Britt, wait. I want to take you somewhere today..."s

Brittany frowned. "What about my parents? And Demi? And my family? I mean... it's my birthday. I can't just run off..."

Santana smiled warmly, pushing a few hairs out of Brittany face and tugging them behind her ear. Her hand cupped her cheek, and her thumb traced a path down to her lips. Brittany swallowed, looking into Santana's dark brown eyes. She felt her insides melt. She lowered her eyes, feeling her stomach twist. Santana's full lips were so inviting... she _needed_... Leaning in she wrapped her arms around Santana's waist, pulling her closer. When their lips touched she felt that same jolt of electricity she had felt the first time they kissed. It seemed like so long ago.

Brittany smiled at the memory. She remembered fighting the urge, and losing – of course. She remembered how strange Santana's behavior had been and how the rejection stung. Yes, she remembered it. In fact, she remembered every second she spent with Santana in the time they knew each other. Even though it had just been a few months now.

After their fight about Brittany rejoining the Cheerios they had made up – with a lot of sex. After that it had been quite a struggle to keep the other happy. Santana wasn't psyched about her girlfriend being on the Cheerios and sometimes Brittany got tired of Santana's attitude. So they fought some more. But at the end of the day they loved each other too much to actually keep fighting, and they always got back together.

About a month later they learned to accept the other's flaws and subsequently their own too. They started to talk more about their feelings, and Santana opened up to Brittany a little more every day. Eventually she told Brittany the story about being bullied herself, and filled in the details that had remained open for Mike and Brittany when they first got to know Santana. In return Brittany accepted every part of Santana, and promised to protect her against the people out there in the real world. It was never really necessary.

Quinn and her Cheerios backed off, and they even invited Santana to rejoin the cheerleading squad as well. She refused, but seemed a lot more relaxed with the idea of having to face them every day after that. She even dared to hold Brittany's hand in public – in which Brittany never saw the problem. They loved each other. They were a couple. Why would they hide something awesome like that? But she also understood where Santana was coming from, so she never made a big deal out of it. Not really, anyway. Occasionally she would be annoyed and still grab Santana's hand whenever she felt like it, but most of the time she respected Santana's anxiety of being seen in public with a girl. Sometimes she would give it all up, though, and just sit with Brittany and the other Cheerios during lunch. Those times were awkward, but Brittany was proud of her girlfriend for at least trying.

Santana smiled against Brittany's lips, just before breaking away from the kiss. "I have discussed it with your parents already. You're free to go as you please. Besides, you're legally an adult. No one has the right to keep you here if you'd rather go out with your insanely hot girlfriend."

Brittany raised one eyebrow, slipping her hands into Santana's. She narrowed her eyes, shaking her head a bit. "My insanely hot girlfriend is very good at planning things, I suppose. She has it all figured out."

"Hm," Santana nodded. "She does. But she's in a rush too. So she wants _her_ insanely hot girlfriend to come already. Otherwise they're going to be late for their... appointment." She wiggled her eyebrows, pulling Brittany off the bed. "So... let's go."

Letting Santana pull her downstairs, Brittany wondered where they were going. She was even more surprised when she found out that Santana was actually planning to _drive_ somewhere, as she pulled her towards her car. Most of the time Brittany would pick up Quinn, and then Santana, and then they would all go to school together. It wasn't always much fun, especially after Quinn was degraded to sitting in the backseat, but it worked. Santana rarely drove by herself, so Brittany was getting really curious as to where they would be going.

But she decided not to say anything and just wait – even though that was really hard. She wasn't really a patient person, especially not when she was excited for something. Hopefully it was going to be a lot of fun. Of course it would, though. Everything she did with Santana was fun... Well most of the things they did together were fun.

They drove for a while. And a little while longer. And longer. And longer. After three hours Brittany was starting to get _really_ impatient. "Why won't you tell me where we're going?" She looked out of the window, catching a glimpse of the landscape flying by. In the reflection she saw her own hand holding Santana's, and she turned her face. She must have looked really annoyed, because Santana chuckled. "Just be patient for a little while longer, okay?"

Brittany pouted, squeezing Santana's fingers. "I don't want to wait any longer... Can't you just tell me? I promise I'll act surprised when we get there..."

Santana shook her head, a smile tugging her lips. "Nope. I want to see the surprised look on your face. It'll be priceless."

"You can see my face when we're in the car, too," Brittany murmured, leaning her head against the window. She closed her eyes for a second. "You know, I'm mad at you."

"But?" Santana asked, clearly amused.

"You're still so hot."

"You have your eyes closed. How do you know I'm hot when you can't even see me?"

Brittany smiled a small smile. "I just do. I've been you before, remember? I saw you yesterday, and the before yesterday. And the day before the day before yesterday. And the day before the day before the day before yesterday. And the day –"

"Okay," Santana interrupted her before Brittany could go on. She gave her a tiny little squeeze with her hand before pulling away to shift gears. "I understand. I'm hot. That's why I'm so irresistible."

"No," Brittany argued. "You're irresistible because you're sweet and romantic. Because you take me on a _three-hour-long_ trip to god knows where for my birthday, and because you have a nice side. Which I know you don't show that often, but when you do it's amazing. You're irresistible because your voice is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard, and you can dance pretty well too. Do you need me to go on?"

"Sure," Santana said, not really listening. She took a turn, focusing on the road rather than on Brittany, but that didn't stop the blonde. "You're irresistible because when you smile I feel better no matter what. Because I know you will protect me from everything evil that is hiding out there in the real world. Because you gave the Cheerios a second chance, because they're my friends. Because you've grown so much over the months I've known you. And yes, you are also irresistible because you're really, _really _hot." Brittany moved her hand, pressing down at Santana's leg. She leaned in, kissing Santana's cheek and pushing a hair out of her face. "I love you, Santana. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone in this world."

Santana glanced at her, and their eyes locked. Brittany felt herself drown, and she unconsciously licked her lips. It caused Santana's smile to widen and she bit the inside of her bottom lip. "I love you too, Brittany. I would give you a million reasons as to why, but I think you know. And besides," she stopped talking, pulling over in an empty parking spot. "We're here."

While Santana stopped the engine, Brittany looked around the place. There were a lot of cars around here, and she couldn't really see where they were. She felt disappointment wash over her, until she spotted two familiar Asians leaning over the car. Slightly confused she looked over at Santana, who was pulling out two pieces of paper out of her purse. Brittany's eyes widened when she put two and two together, and if she hadn't been sitting she would have definitely fallen down. "No," she breathed. "Santana, you didn't..."

Her first impulse was to check the date on her phone, but then she remembered that it was her birthday. Which date had Mike said the concert was again...? Yes. Everything fit perfectly.

Shaking her head she reached for the tickets, and Santana handed them over with a wide smile. Her face said everything – Brittany's surprised expression was priceless.

While the blonde tried to control her breathing again Santana unbuckled her seatbelt, climbing over the center console, careful not to break anything. She wrapped her arms around Brittany, who – much to her own surprise – had tears streaming down her face. Tears of happiness. She hugged Santana back, shaking a bit. "Santana..."

Santana smiled, pressing her face against Brittany's. She touched her lips slightly with her own, pulling back a few moments later. "Yes, Britt. We're going to see Britney Spears. Happy birthday, sweetheart. Happy birthday."


End file.
